00:00:00
You bumped into him on a practice range
00:00:02
in 2019 and it was a little frosty. I
00:00:04
knew straight away that it just wasn't
00:00:06
the same. One thing about that
00:00:07
tournament that most people don't know
00:00:10
is
00:00:15
Did Tiger make a habit of doing that?
00:00:16
Like if they finish
00:00:18
that's a nauseating amount of pressure.
00:00:20
That's the way it is. He was
00:00:24
bitter to Stevie. Thank you for your
00:00:27
friendship. Love always. Tiger Woods.
00:00:32
Yeah, I didn't see that coming. It's
00:00:33
weird.
00:00:35
You sort of dress him down and give them
00:00:37
a piece of your mind. When you have a
00:00:38
conversation like that, you've got a
00:00:39
number of things that you want to
00:00:40
address. He needs to be put in his place
00:00:42
and I did it. Were you [ __ ]
00:00:43
yourself? You know, I tell it like it
00:00:45
is. As a husband and as a father, I
00:00:48
probably faltered there for a little
00:00:50
bit.
00:00:52
The first thing that the surgeon told
00:00:54
me,
00:00:57
um, hit a [ __ ] shot. You can't blame me
00:00:59
for hitting a [ __ ] shot.
00:01:03
[Music]
00:01:06
You would actually think that I'd have
00:01:08
some knowledge of what was going
00:01:11
on. Happy to be able to sit here and
00:01:14
share my story with you.
00:01:17
Kiwis love a
00:01:19
thirst. Like Finn, we're making
00:01:23
[Music]
00:01:26
waves. Generate switch online today.
00:01:36
Steve Williams, welcome back to my
00:01:38
podcast. Yeah. Um, pretty good to be
00:01:41
here for the second time, Don. Yeah. Oh,
00:01:43
mate, this is um this is really cool.
00:01:45
So, um, you've got a a new book coming
00:01:47
out called Together We Roar, and I'm one
00:01:49
of the first people in the world that's
00:01:51
been lucky enough to read it. It's like
00:01:53
a uncorrected proof copy, not for sale.
00:01:56
Um, but you you reached out to me asking
00:01:58
to come back on and I couldn't believe
00:01:59
it. I thought, "Fuck, this is epic."
00:02:01
Yeah. Well, I mean, I've had that many
00:02:03
people tell me that they've listened to
00:02:04
your podcast show when I was on it, so
00:02:06
you're a logical one to put their hand
00:02:07
up and and and we we're promoting the
00:02:10
book, so good place to start. Yeah. the
00:02:14
um the podcast that we did which um came
00:02:16
out at the beginning of 2024 um by far
00:02:19
the biggest podcast I've done to date.
00:02:22
I've done almost like 200 episodes and
00:02:23
that was the biggest by far. I think
00:02:24
it's 400,000 views on YouTube or
00:02:26
something. Um and I suppose that says a
00:02:29
lot about uh I don't know the respect
00:02:30
that New Zealanders have for you and
00:02:32
also just the um the aura of yeah the
00:02:35
whole Tiger Wood story I guess. Yeah. I
00:02:37
mean, look, Tigers, a once in
00:02:39
a-lifetime, once in a generation sort of
00:02:42
athlete. And people, you know, when he
00:02:45
was playing, they just couldn't get
00:02:47
enough of Tiger Woods and that. And I
00:02:48
think when he was playing, I think, you
00:02:50
know, a great deal of the people that
00:02:53
got to see him play realized that he was
00:02:55
a once in a generational athlete.
00:02:58
There'll probably be another never be
00:03:00
another golfer like Tiger and possibly
00:03:02
another athlete that's dominated a sport
00:03:04
so seriously like he has. So, uh, I was
00:03:07
very fortunate to be by his side, uh, in
00:03:09
those golden years and part of it
00:03:11
playing a role in it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,
00:03:13
look, I mean, it's just, you know, when
00:03:15
you look back and you've had a chance to
00:03:16
caddy for someone like him, I've c for a
00:03:18
number of very, very good players, but
00:03:19
to have worked alongside arguably the
00:03:21
greatest player, uh, and, you know, toe
00:03:24
to toe and watched him compete is pretty
00:03:26
special. Yeah. Um, yeah, the players you
00:03:29
that you're talking about, Greg Norman
00:03:30
from 82 to 89. Um, you love a long-term
00:03:34
relationship, don't you?
00:03:36
Greg Norman 82 to 89. Raymond Floyd um
00:03:38
89 to 999. Tiger from 99 to 2011 and
00:03:42
then um Adam Scott uh 2011 to 2017 then
00:03:46
uh 22 23. Yeah, they're your three three
00:03:50
key relationships. Yeah. home for um but
00:03:53
yeah they're I've been fortunate that
00:03:55
each player I've K for have had a
00:03:57
lengthy stint and in our business we
00:03:59
sort of c sort of realize that it's you
00:04:01
know there's no you know you can't tell
00:04:04
how long a relationship's going to last
00:04:05
but five years if you can car for
00:04:07
someone for 5 years it's a pretty good
00:04:09
stint I mean it's an intense job you
00:04:11
spend a lot of time with someone and a
00:04:14
lot of times when players fall out of
00:04:15
form you know that they're looking for
00:04:17
changes it could be the coach could be
00:04:18
the caddy whatever but um it's it you
00:04:21
know, you don't go to Caddy for someone
00:04:23
and think it's going to be a lifetime
00:04:25
job.
00:04:26
And um the Augusta Masters in 2023 with
00:04:29
Adam Scott, that's your that's your
00:04:31
final masters. Yeah, look, I mean, you
00:04:33
never say never. It's a pretty special
00:04:36
place. And you know, if the right
00:04:37
opportunity came along, perhaps I could
00:04:39
go back there and carry, but like when
00:04:40
you step aside from something, you did
00:04:41
it for as long as I have. Um and and
00:04:44
it's, you know, the game evolves very
00:04:47
quickly. you know, I I haven't carried
00:04:49
full-time since 2017. Had a couple of
00:04:51
stints here and there, but the game
00:04:53
evolves and I mean, I think unless
00:04:54
you're out there regularly, you might
00:04:56
maybe fall behind a little bit. The
00:04:58
players use a lot of technology now. Uh
00:05:00
I'm an old school caddy that caddies by
00:05:02
feel. And u for instance, you know, the
00:05:05
players, they require the knowledge of
00:05:09
you know how far up uphill a shot is,
00:05:11
how far downhill a shot is. They they
00:05:13
have that information given to them and
00:05:14
then in the yardage books that are
00:05:16
provided. That's the book that is
00:05:17
provided that has all that kind of
00:05:19
information in it. Uh I used to do that
00:05:21
all by feel. I just look at something
00:05:22
and feel it. So, um yeah, I'm probably a
00:05:26
bit out of date now, but I'd have to,
00:05:27
you know, get my thinking or change the
00:05:29
way I do things if I was to keep cing,
00:05:30
but you know, I've done my time out
00:05:32
there. Would you would you ever want to
00:05:34
go back to a Would you ever go back to
00:05:36
Augusta wearing anything other than like
00:05:38
white overalls? Like would you want to
00:05:40
be like behind one of the fences like
00:05:42
wandering around from hole to hole?
00:05:44
Yeah. No, look, I mean, I think that'd
00:05:46
be pretty difficult to go and uh watch a
00:05:48
golf tournament when you've, you know,
00:05:50
you've been active in cadding for so
00:05:51
many years. Um, no, I don't think I
00:05:54
could go and watch it, but u on the same
00:05:56
sec on the other hand, I'm not that keen
00:05:58
to put those white boiler suits on
00:06:00
either. And what's your what's your
00:06:03
relationship like with um with golf now?
00:06:05
Like do do you do you follow it? Like
00:06:07
when we're recording this, the New
00:06:08
Zealand Open was on last weekend. Were
00:06:10
you there? Did you watch it? Yeah. No, I
00:06:11
was c for Daniel Hillier last week. So,
00:06:13
I don't follow golf too much, but uh I I
00:06:15
keep an eye out for Ryan Fox and and
00:06:18
Daniel Hillier. Um the two Kiwi players
00:06:21
that I've, you know, come to know pretty
00:06:23
good. And uh but outside of that, no, I
00:06:25
don't really follow it too much. I like
00:06:26
to keep tracks on how they're doing. Um
00:06:28
you know, at the moment, they're our two
00:06:30
best players. And I've ci for Ryan, I've
00:06:31
ci for Dan or Caddy from last week at
00:06:33
the Open. So, I keep an eye on those two
00:06:35
guys. Full Swing on Netflix. Have you
00:06:37
watched that? Do you watch that? No, I
00:06:39
haven't uh watched that. I'd sort of,
00:06:41
you know, some of those programs are a
00:06:42
bit far-fetched, I think, sometimes.
00:06:46
So, it seems that it seems like a drama
00:06:48
to you rather than a like a documentary.
00:06:50
Yeah. Look, I mean, I I look at that as
00:06:52
sort of a made for TV sort of thing, you
00:06:54
know? I don't like I watched the I
00:06:56
watched one episode of the first one and
00:06:58
I thought, well, that's a bit farfetched
00:06:59
for me. I know that's not exactly how
00:07:02
things go on the tour, so I haven't
00:07:04
watched any further. What about the um
00:07:06
your old mate with his uh TGL league?
00:07:09
What what do you what do you think of
00:07:11
that? Uh I haven't watched any of that
00:07:12
either. Um I mean anything you can do
00:07:14
that can broaden the wider audience for
00:07:17
golf. I think it's great. So um you know
00:07:20
that that takes place on a Monday night
00:07:22
or or a Tuesday night. So when there's
00:07:23
no other direct competition from any
00:07:25
other golf tournaments on TV. So um and
00:07:28
if you can get new people into the game,
00:07:29
new audience and that that's great. I
00:07:31
think yeah, but I mean I haven't
00:07:32
actually watched it, so I can't say
00:07:34
firsthand having watched it, but I know
00:07:36
if you can have something that can bring
00:07:38
new people into the game and and just
00:07:40
people get the opportunity to watch
00:07:42
great players. I mean, I'm obviously not
00:07:44
playing on a golf course, but you know,
00:07:46
there's a lot of people around the world
00:07:47
that play golf but don't go to a golf
00:07:49
course. They just go to a driving range
00:07:50
and hit balls. They don't actually play
00:07:52
golf. And, you know, you'll get a lot of
00:07:53
people watch that kind of thing and
00:07:54
think, you know, let's get let's go to
00:07:56
the driving range, hit some balls, and
00:07:57
let's get, you know, see if we can get a
00:07:58
feel for what's going on here. Yes. How
00:08:01
Yeah. How would you explain that TGL
00:08:02
thing for someone that has no idea what
00:08:04
we're talking about? It's sort of like
00:08:05
Well, it's like simulator, you know, you
00:08:07
can do all sorts of things on a
00:08:09
simulator. So, it's I guess you could
00:08:11
relate it's like simulator golf. You
00:08:12
know, you're hitting off a mat um and
00:08:15
you're hitting into a screen and and
00:08:17
you'll get all the details of how far
00:08:18
the ball's gone, where it's positioned
00:08:20
that they bring up the holes like you're
00:08:21
playing playing a golf course and they
00:08:23
have a real putting green there from
00:08:24
what I'm told. I haven't watched it. I
00:08:26
can't actually, but my understanding is
00:08:28
they have a proper putting green and
00:08:29
they can change that putting green. They
00:08:31
can change the slope, the surf, you
00:08:32
know, the different things to suit the
00:08:33
different holes that they're playing.
00:08:35
Um, yeah. So, it's it's, you know, it's
00:08:38
a big new addition to the game. Uh, and
00:08:41
something completely different. Be a
00:08:43
great format for a caddy in his 60s. Not
00:08:45
much walking, right? Yeah. You could
00:08:47
just stand there in your chair and have
00:08:48
a beer and say, "I think it's this club
00:08:50
or Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um I I uh
00:08:54
mentioned on Instagram that you were
00:08:55
coming in and someone had a um a comment
00:08:58
which I thought was brilliant. They they
00:08:59
said um last year when I heard that
00:09:01
Oasis was having a reunion, I bought
00:09:02
tickets straight away and I'm more
00:09:03
excited about that than anything. But I
00:09:05
think more exciting than an Oasis
00:09:07
reunion would be seeing Tiger and Steve
00:09:09
have one more round together. Yeah.
00:09:11
Well, Tiger's not playing much these
00:09:12
days. Last year he only uh competed
00:09:15
sparsely and and did the major
00:09:17
championship. So, um, yeah, that would
00:09:20
be, you know, it would be actually kind
00:09:22
of fun, I guess, from my perspective if
00:09:24
you were to step out there one more time
00:09:26
and just finish off knowing that you're
00:09:28
finishing off. Um, when I when I stepped
00:09:29
away caring for Tiger when he was out
00:09:31
injured, um, and then he came back, you
00:09:34
know, you don't know when your last
00:09:35
tournament's going to be, but if you
00:09:36
went out there and had a reunion, be
00:09:39
kind of fun. But I guess that's probably
00:09:41
a bit of a pipe dream. That's what we
00:09:43
thought about Oasis. Yeah. Well, that's
00:09:44
a good point. You never know. Um yeah,
00:09:46
just before we get into it, something
00:09:48
that I think is is worth a mention um
00:09:50
because we did talk about this in the
00:09:51
last um episode where we caught up, but
00:09:54
um I thought it's better getting this
00:09:56
early early on in um the Steve Williams
00:09:58
Foundation um and your philanthropy work
00:10:00
because a lot of people may not know
00:10:01
about this and I feel like it's worth
00:10:02
running a highlighter through it. So,
00:10:04
um, yeah, in October 2008, yourself and
00:10:08
your wife Kirsty made a $1 million
00:10:10
donation to Starship, um, in particular
00:10:12
their oncology department there, which,
00:10:15
um, [ __ ] it's phenomenal. Yeah. Look, I
00:10:18
mean that my wife got behind that
00:10:20
project. She met with the CEO of the
00:10:22
Starship Hospital. So, they were about
00:10:24
to commence the rebuild or the planning
00:10:26
of the rebuild of the oncology unit and
00:10:28
they need a founding donor to start off
00:10:30
the the fundraising. So, uh, we decided
00:10:33
what a no greater place to put some
00:10:35
money into. It's a fantastic facility
00:10:38
that needed upgrading. Uh, sadly, the
00:10:41
rate of oncology in in our young people
00:10:43
today is always ever increasing, which
00:10:45
is, you know, it's kind of sad. But
00:10:47
look, if you go into a place like that,
00:10:49
I've said this to so many people,
00:10:51
sometimes you get a little bit down and
00:10:52
out on on different aspects of your
00:10:54
life. And if you go into the Starship
00:10:56
Hospital or the Ronald McDonald House,
00:10:58
particularly the oncology unit and spend
00:11:00
a bit of time there, uh you get a deep
00:11:02
appreciation of how fortunate you are,
00:11:04
uh to have good health and and good
00:11:06
people around you. So, um but as far as
00:11:09
the Steve Williams Foundation go, um
00:11:11
last year 2024, my wife and I shut that
00:11:14
down. We've done it for 22 years
00:11:17
non-stop. Uh we've done it on our own,
00:11:19
so it's a tremendous amount of
00:11:20
fundraising. Um we're extremely proud of
00:11:23
what we've achieved. We've supported um
00:11:26
not only the Starship Hospital and the
00:11:27
Ronald McDonald House extensively, but
00:11:30
we've helped a lot of uh junior golfers
00:11:32
in the country and then most recently
00:11:33
quite a few speedway drivers, uh youth
00:11:36
speedway drivers. So, you can't do
00:11:38
something forever. Uh we feel like we've
00:11:40
done as much as we can do and it's a lot
00:11:42
of work running a foundation. So, you
00:11:44
know, we need to step we decided to step
00:11:46
aside and concentrate on some other
00:11:48
aspects of our life. M well, thanks for
00:11:51
doing it in the first place. Um, you
00:11:53
know, it's not like you were doing it
00:11:54
for, you know, clout or kudos or the
00:11:56
attention or publicity or anything like
00:11:58
that. And, um, I've got no idea what
00:11:59
your financial situation is, but a
00:12:01
million dollars is a lot for anyone,
00:12:02
right? Yeah. Look, I mean, obviously,
00:12:04
I'm fortunate uh to being very
00:12:05
successful in in a job that I love. I
00:12:07
never stepped out to be a golf caddy to
00:12:09
make money. It was just something I
00:12:10
loved. I love being outdoors. Loved the
00:12:12
opportunity to caddy, loved working on
00:12:13
the golf tour, watching golf pros play,
00:12:16
and got to caddy some great players. uh
00:12:18
and fortunately you know got rewarded
00:12:20
very well for it but um like if people
00:12:23
always ask me what's the single greatest
00:12:25
moment of your career you know and you
00:12:27
know not many people would think the
00:12:28
answer would be actually given that
00:12:30
million dollars to ship hospital and you
00:12:32
know the the feedback that Kirsty and I
00:12:35
have had from that the amount of people
00:12:37
that go into that unit and
00:12:39
um since the rebuild uh and know how
00:12:43
much more spacious it is how much more
00:12:44
better it is for their family and far
00:12:46
now they have to spend time in there and
00:12:48
yeah, it's pretty special. My
00:12:50
father-in-law actually he took on the
00:12:51
job of rebuilding the kitchen there and
00:12:53
he got all the product and all the uh
00:12:55
what they needed to do for nothing and
00:12:57
he spent him and his colleagues um built
00:13:00
that out free of charge. So, it was a
00:13:02
family project and yeah, we're super
00:13:04
proud of that. And and that all started
00:13:06
with um a Christmas day trip to the
00:13:08
Gizbborne Hospital in 2006 where you you
00:13:11
and your wife went in and you were
00:13:12
handing out chocolates. Um see see this
00:13:15
this stuff goes unnoticed, you know. So
00:13:17
there there's no there's no cameras
00:13:18
there. You're not even on social media
00:13:20
from what I can get at you. You [ __ ] at
00:13:21
responding to texts on your phone. So
00:13:24
yeah, what were you doing at hospital on
00:13:25
Christmas Day 2006? My wife is, you
00:13:28
know, she's got a big heart and she has
00:13:29
some great ideas and that. Yeah. So I I
00:13:31
I was going to go to Gisbon um to race
00:13:34
on Boxing Day. So you can't drive from
00:13:36
Aland to Gisbon and race on the same
00:13:38
day. So we had to go on Christmas Day,
00:13:40
which is not ideal. And um my wife said,
00:13:43
"Well, if you're going to do that, we're
00:13:44
going to do something good." And um
00:13:46
prior to leaving, we went and got as
00:13:47
many chocolates and boxes of chocolates
00:13:49
as we could and we took them in there to
00:13:51
the children's ward at Kisman Hospital
00:13:53
and just handed them all out. I mean,
00:13:54
nobody knew who we were or anything. We
00:13:56
just went and asked the people we could
00:13:58
hand out some chocolates and that and
00:13:59
that's what we did. And it's actually on
00:14:01
that uh we were the following day after
00:14:03
Boxing Day we were racing in Napia and
00:14:05
that's when my wife sort of put her
00:14:07
thinking cap on and what can we do next
00:14:09
and that's how um she came up with the
00:14:12
Starship Hospital um with the you know
00:14:16
they were looking to rebuild the
00:14:17
oncology unit. So we got jumped on
00:14:19
board, became the founding donors and
00:14:21
yeah I mean look it's a lot of money
00:14:23
granted I get that but you couldn't ask
00:14:26
to give money to a better charity and to
00:14:28
a more worthwhile cause in the starship
00:14:30
hospital and I always say to people like
00:14:32
I said earlier you know just go in there
00:14:34
one day go to the reception there they
00:14:35
have so many volunteers that'll be happy
00:14:37
to show you around what a marvelous
00:14:38
facility is and and you know it it it is
00:14:41
a very worthwhile cause when they're
00:14:43
looking for money that or the McDonald
00:14:45
House if you're ever out there and
00:14:46
they're looking for some Honey, that's
00:14:48
great causes to give it to. Yeah. Do you
00:14:51
do you feel an immense sense of pride
00:14:52
like when you talk about it now? Oh,
00:14:55
100%. Like if you go into the oncology
00:14:56
unit now that the uh when you walk into
00:14:58
the doors there, it bears our name. My
00:15:00
wife, our name is up on the on the door
00:15:03
there above the door. And uh yeah,
00:15:05
absolutely. It's a was a huge thing and
00:15:07
uh like I said, we're immensely proud of
00:15:10
our association with two great
00:15:11
charities. Yeah. Well, thanks for that.
00:15:14
Now, together we roar. Um yeah, this
00:15:17
this podcast is going to come out around
00:15:19
about the same time as the book. So um
00:15:21
who whose idea was it? Who was Evan
00:15:23
Priest? Yeah. So Evan's a journalist, an
00:15:26
Australian journalist who I'm friends
00:15:27
with. So during co um like a lot of
00:15:30
people, Evan was not he he was a golf
00:15:33
journalist following the golf tour and
00:15:34
and you know it was difficult to be on
00:15:36
the tour with the co thing and he he was
00:15:38
looking to do a podcast. So they asked
00:15:40
me would you do a podcast based around
00:15:42
your major championship wins which I
00:15:44
agreed to and we did that and it was
00:15:46
hugely successful to the point where we
00:15:47
had quite a number of players like Rory
00:15:49
Maroy Henrik Stenson and a few really
00:15:51
really top players listened to it and
00:15:53
and and really found it good and they
00:15:54
reached out and said how much they
00:15:56
enjoyed the podcast. Uh so based on the
00:15:58
podcast there was quite a bit of
00:16:00
interest uh from publishing companies to
00:16:02
perhaps uh extend on that podcast go a
00:16:05
bit deeper into it and a bit broader as
00:16:08
far as not just the majors but my entire
00:16:10
time with Tiger um and um yeah so
00:16:14
through that Evan and I discussed it
00:16:16
with a publisher and we came up with
00:16:17
what we were going to do and yeah we did
00:16:19
it at at that point was the podcast
00:16:21
series with Evan and my podcast the only
00:16:23
podcast you you'd ever done? The first
00:16:25
podcast I series I did was with Evan.
00:16:27
Yeah. And that was during co. So, uh,
00:16:31
yeah. Yeah. There's very little about
00:16:32
you online. So, um, yeah. What was the
00:16:34
process? What was the process with Evan?
00:16:36
Yeah. So, we we having done two books
00:16:39
before, I I realized that, um, the most
00:16:42
important thing is time. And when you
00:16:45
commit to do a book, um, you know, the
00:16:47
the general time frame from the two
00:16:49
previous books was 6 months, which I
00:16:50
knew was not going to be long enough. um
00:16:52
the longer you can do it, the better you
00:16:54
can you can do it. So we we extended
00:16:55
this one out to 9 months. Uh and that
00:16:58
way we we were able to so twi every week
00:17:01
uh twice a week Evan and I would talk
00:17:03
for 2 hours um and in between he would
00:17:05
do research, I would do research and
00:17:07
then Evan came over to finish the book
00:17:09
up. We came to New Zealand for a week uh
00:17:11
to tidy up all the loose ends and that.
00:17:12
So we we we've really really happy the
00:17:15
way the book turned out. Uh there was no
00:17:17
rush to it. Uh we got everything in
00:17:19
there and tweak things around when we
00:17:20
needed to and um yeah no it's really
00:17:23
turned out good. I think the reader will
00:17:24
find a very good insight uh into my
00:17:28
relationship cing for Tiger and a little
00:17:29
bit behind the scenes and what make
00:17:30
Tigers tick and how we're so successful
00:17:33
and some really you know untold stories
00:17:34
in there that people will find
00:17:36
fascinating. Yeah, I I love the um
00:17:39
behind the scenes stuff. Um yeah, like
00:17:41
the peak behind the curtain into a
00:17:42
lifestyle. Yeah, the tiger mania
00:17:44
lifestyle lifestyle that none of us will
00:17:45
ever see. Um, and there there's almost
00:17:48
nothing negative in the book at all.
00:17:50
Yeah. Look, was that deliberate? Oh,
00:17:52
well, there's nothing negative to
00:17:54
report. I mean, you know, like the media
00:17:56
portray a lot of stuff that happened
00:17:57
between Tiger and myself and Tiger
00:17:58
personally. Um, you know, I don't get
00:18:00
into that, but you know, as far as, you
00:18:03
know, working for Tiger as a golf caddy.
00:18:05
I mean, there was nothing negative to be
00:18:06
reported. I mean, we had a great
00:18:08
relationship. He was a very successful
00:18:10
player. Uh, and it's just a look at
00:18:12
between how two players or a caddy and a
00:18:14
player coexisted in that time. No, no,
00:18:17
but like if you if you know someone
00:18:19
intimately for 11 years, like the in any
00:18:22
situation, you've got stories where you
00:18:23
can throw them under the bus. Like you
00:18:25
hear conversations or you you know you
00:18:27
just the chat you have um like I'm
00:18:29
thinking Prince Harry's book last year
00:18:30
called Spear. Like he really threw his
00:18:32
dad under the bus on a couple of
00:18:33
occasions. Um, but it's like the closest
00:18:36
you come to doing that is may maybe
00:18:37
there's a line in there saying when you
00:18:39
first met Tiger, you've never seen
00:18:40
someone eat McDonald's so often.
00:18:43
How much McD How old was he then? Like
00:18:45
19, 20? Yeah. So, how much Meccas was he
00:18:47
eating? Yeah, he he he he was when I
00:18:50
first started cing for him, he was
00:18:51
fueled by McDonald's. I found that
00:18:53
pretty fascinating. Um, I'd never been
00:18:55
to so many drive-thrus and I and I can't
00:18:58
stand McDonald's. It's just I don't mind
00:19:00
their milkshakes, but that's about it.
00:19:01
But yeah, so no, but he he he turned his
00:19:04
diet around and everything. But yeah,
00:19:06
look, the book's about, you know, like I
00:19:08
said, you know, as far as my time with
00:19:10
Tiger, you know, you always have some
00:19:11
tense times that everybody does when you
00:19:13
spend that much time working for
00:19:14
somebody. And, you know, a player and a
00:19:16
caddy spend an immense amount of time
00:19:18
together over a period of a year. Some
00:19:19
players play 30 weeks, 40 weeks. Tiger
00:19:22
play, you know, 23, 24 weeks, and it's 7
00:19:24
days a week. And a lot of time, uh, the
00:19:26
days are lengthy. So, you're close to
00:19:28
someone. You're going to have some
00:19:29
moments where you're not getting on or
00:19:30
you have a difference of opinion, but
00:19:32
there's nothing in that book. There was
00:19:34
no need to to throw Tiger under the bus.
00:19:36
It like I said that it's a story about a
00:19:38
player in a caddy and and what made us
00:19:40
so successful.
00:19:43
Yeah. It seems like um even though you
00:19:45
guys don't have any sort of relationship
00:19:47
to speak of now, there is the sort of
00:19:49
like un definitely an unwritten respect
00:19:51
between both of you. Oh, abs.
00:19:53
Absolutely. I mean, you know,
00:19:55
realistically, how could there not be? I
00:19:56
mean, you know, Tiger played arguably
00:19:59
the greatest golf ever played and and
00:20:01
particularly in the major championships
00:20:03
and, you know, I was there all the time
00:20:04
in that and we we were getting on
00:20:06
famously until we split. So, you know,
00:20:08
there's there's it's a great story. What
00:20:10
do you hope his response would be if if
00:20:12
he um comes across the book and picks it
00:20:14
up, has a read through. How could how
00:20:16
could you not, by the way? Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:18
Look, we we we've Yeah. the the copy
00:20:20
that you receive is called a galley copy
00:20:22
which we sent uh to Tiger's management
00:20:25
people hoping that he would read and I'm
00:20:26
and and I'm pretty sure he would read to
00:20:28
be honest. Um and I I would think he'd
00:20:31
find it very very good. Um it's a very
00:20:34
accurate true account. There's it's uh
00:20:37
it's very um yeah it's very thoughtful
00:20:39
the book. Were there any moments or
00:20:41
stories that are in the book that you
00:20:43
sort of armed about but ultimately left
00:20:45
in? Oh no. Look the given the time that
00:20:47
we we had to do the book it was really
00:20:49
fascinating. It was like taking a step
00:20:51
back in time and that I did the podcast
00:20:53
which was great. Um but that was a week
00:20:55
toe thing. So this book was taking more
00:20:56
time than that. And so you know when you
00:20:58
you're doing some research and I was
00:20:59
going through my notes and I had my
00:21:01
yardage books and and just actually
00:21:03
going through a lot of my statistics and
00:21:04
compiling a lot of information for the
00:21:06
book. It was it was really uh I find it
00:21:08
quite empowering actually. It was very
00:21:10
good because when you're catting and you
00:21:12
when you're out there and you're
00:21:13
competing and when I'm not competing but
00:21:15
I'm catting it's just next week next
00:21:17
week you never look in the rear mirror.
00:21:18
It's always on to the next week on to
00:21:20
the next thing onto the next thing and
00:21:21
and even outside of cing I'm a bit like
00:21:23
that myself just keep moving on to the
00:21:25
next thing. But to actually sit back for
00:21:27
a, you know, like it took us 9 months to
00:21:29
put that all together and, you know, go
00:21:30
back in time a little bit and look at
00:21:32
all those moments and um recall a lot of
00:21:35
moments. And when you when you have a
00:21:36
bit of time and you're not under
00:21:37
pressure, it's very easy to remember
00:21:39
things that. But when you're always
00:21:41
active and you're moving forward like
00:21:42
when we're doing the podcast sometimes,
00:21:45
um, you know, it's hard to remember a
00:21:47
lot of stuff. But with a bit of extra
00:21:48
time and that, um, between Evan and I
00:21:50
been able to research a lot of stuff and
00:21:52
go back in time, that was great. M what
00:21:55
what do you hope readers will take away
00:21:56
from the book? Oh, look, I mean, it'll
00:21:58
just give them a a really true
00:22:00
appreciation of what goes on between a
00:22:02
player and Caddyy and what made Tiger so
00:22:04
special and and what that relationship
00:22:06
was like. I mean, you
00:22:08
know, I get asked every day, every every
00:22:11
every week, you know, what was it like
00:22:13
having Tiger? Well, here's a book now
00:22:15
that you can buy and it'll give you a
00:22:17
really, really good account of what went
00:22:19
on between Tiger and myself with some
00:22:21
lighter moments, some darker moments,
00:22:23
and some really enthralling moments
00:22:25
along with, you know, what made them so
00:22:27
good and and and a lot of the highlights
00:22:30
of the time that I carried for him.
00:22:31
Yeah. What what you're saying, lighter
00:22:32
moments, darker moments, that's like any
00:22:34
long-term relationship or friendship,
00:22:35
isn't it? It's um Yeah. It's part of it.
00:22:38
Um how of Yeah. How often do people say
00:22:40
something to you? Oh, look, it's it's
00:22:42
it's hard, I guess. I mean, you know,
00:22:45
everybody looks at me and just says,
00:22:46
"Oh, that's the guy that catty for Tiger
00:22:48
Woods." I mean, I guess a lot of people
00:22:50
don't know. Um, you know, my previous
00:22:53
story to Cing for Tiger and look, we had
00:22:55
a bit of a funny moment last week. We
00:22:57
were at the New Zealand Open. And we're
00:22:59
playing with American John Catelan, a
00:23:01
fantastic player, the winner of the
00:23:03
Asian Order of Merit last year, a
00:23:04
fantastic player. And he said to me,
00:23:06
Steve, uh, how long you been catting in
00:23:08
the New Zealand Open? I said, well, my
00:23:09
first one was 1976. cuz he nearly fell
00:23:11
over.
00:23:13
So 29 years. Yeah. So um next year's New
00:23:16
Zealand Open um 2026 New Zealand Open
00:23:20
will mark you know 50 years from the
00:23:22
first time I carried in a professional
00:23:24
tournament for Peter Thompson. So it's
00:23:26
actually a a moment I'm looking quite
00:23:28
special to and you know perhaps that
00:23:30
might be the time I say well never
00:23:31
again. I'm the only bag I'm going to
00:23:32
carry is my own not someone else's
00:23:35
maybe. Yeah, I feel like um yeah, you
00:23:38
definitely get reflective as you get
00:23:39
older and um you may maybe at the time
00:23:41
maybe it's what you're talking about
00:23:42
before. It's like that sort of growth
00:23:44
mindset where it's just on to the next
00:23:45
onto the next onto the next. Um but as
00:23:47
you get older, you pause and reflect and
00:23:49
you realize just what a special not just
00:23:51
the tiger period, but the whole career,
00:23:53
how special the whole thing's been.
00:23:54
Yeah. Look, I started out, you know,
00:23:56
like I said, 1976. It's a long time ago,
00:23:59
50 years next year. And
00:24:02
um you know I've the the players that
00:24:04
I've c for have all been very intense
00:24:07
players and guys with absolute
00:24:09
determination to win and that puts a
00:24:11
pressure on yourself. So I I guess the
00:24:15
get stepping away from the tour after
00:24:16
being under pressure particularly with
00:24:18
Tiger and and also Greg to start with
00:24:21
maybe not so much with Ray Floyd but you
00:24:23
know Adam's a little bit more laidback
00:24:25
um you know wants to do well but it's
00:24:27
not the end of the world if he didn't do
00:24:29
well. was with was Greg and Tiger. It
00:24:31
was just that was their world. They had
00:24:32
to do um and more so even Tiger. So, um
00:24:36
when you step back and and look at the
00:24:38
length of time I carried for and and the
00:24:40
success I've had and and the journey
00:24:42
that I've been on, um you know, starting
00:24:44
out for somebody that, you know, left
00:24:46
school and started their dream at a very
00:24:48
young age and that cing professionally
00:24:51
at 15 years of age to start out and
00:24:53
heading overseas at such a young age. Um
00:24:56
yeah, when you look back it's you know I
00:24:58
I often say to my son now like you know
00:25:00
I imagine you out there at 15 or when he
00:25:02
was 15 you know jumping on a plane going
00:25:04
to Europe and starting your career. So
00:25:06
yeah no it's been an incredible journey
00:25:07
and like you say when you get a bit of
00:25:09
time and you retire and you sit back and
00:25:11
not relax but sit back and reflect it's
00:25:13
pretty cool. Yeah there's so many little
00:25:16
um I suppose you could call them Steve
00:25:18
Williams isms in the book um which I
00:25:21
wanted to like bring up and run through
00:25:23
some of these. First of all, the peanut
00:25:25
butter and banana sandwich thing. Um,
00:25:27
this is like a a treat that you made for
00:25:29
like all your players. Did you do this
00:25:31
as far back as Greg Norman? Yep. It was
00:25:32
just a ritual that I had. Um, as as a
00:25:35
kid that was my staple diet, peanut
00:25:37
butter, banana sandwiches, and then for
00:25:39
every player I've gave or you know, I'd
00:25:40
bring two sandwiches. Uh, and I'd get
00:25:43
one on the seventh tea, one on the 13th
00:25:44
tea, one third way through the round,
00:25:46
two/3 way round. I'd give them half a
00:25:48
half a sandwich each. And it just became
00:25:50
the thing. They all accepted it and they
00:25:51
all loved it. So this is this is long
00:25:53
before the internet. So this isn't isn't
00:25:56
from some nutritional advice you got or
00:25:58
anything. This is just what I as a kid
00:26:01
every breakfast I had was peanut butter
00:26:02
and banana on toast and then for lunch
00:26:04
was peanut butter banana sandwiches. I
00:26:06
just loved it. My parents uh they
00:26:08
obviously uh told me about it and it's
00:26:10
just something I have done and you know
00:26:12
to this day it would be it would be an
00:26:14
interesting thing. People often say,
00:26:16
"How many miles do you think you've
00:26:17
flown?" And I always think to myself,
00:26:18
"Well, how many one I don't know how
00:26:19
many peanut butter sandwiches I've
00:26:21
eaten?" Because I still do it today
00:26:22
every day. Yeah. The funny thing for me
00:26:24
was just the um you know, the I suppose
00:26:27
the justosition of this, you know, you
00:26:29
making these sandwiches and, you know,
00:26:31
almost force-feeding them to these like
00:26:33
billionaires that are, you know, flying
00:26:34
around their private planes and stuff,
00:26:36
you know, these elite high professional
00:26:38
sports people. Yeah. Hey, it's just a
00:26:40
bit of kiwism, isn't it? That's it's a
00:26:42
popular thing in New Zealand. Pen up an
00:26:44
ar sandwiches. I just took that with me
00:26:45
and um yeah, just that's what it was. Um
00:26:48
white bread, brown bread. Brown bread.
00:26:50
Brown bread. And and um did you open the
00:26:54
banana and squish it in just before
00:26:55
presenting? I sliced it. Sliced it. Did
00:26:57
it go brown? Oh, you know, on a hot
00:26:59
steamy day in in Memphis in 110° when
00:27:03
you hand that sandwich on the 13th, it's
00:27:05
not looking like it's freshly made, but
00:27:06
still tastes good. Does the job. Um
00:27:10
another I suppose Williamsism. uh you
00:27:14
chose one song and sung it over and over
00:27:15
again uh during every major. Yeah, look
00:27:18
I mean like I don't watch a lot of TV,
00:27:21
never had that. So when I was catting in
00:27:23
these tournaments and that my relaxation
00:27:24
at night time that was just to sit on
00:27:26
the sofa or sit on your bed and listen
00:27:28
to music and that and and plug in some
00:27:30
music and every week I'd sort of come up
00:27:32
with a song and that was my song and I'd
00:27:34
play it over and over and over. Um it
00:27:37
was just something I did and and um some
00:27:39
of those songs had a reference to the
00:27:40
tournament, some of them didn't. Um, but
00:27:42
most of them did have some kind of
00:27:43
reference to either the town that you
00:27:45
were cadding in, the course you were
00:27:47
catting in, or uh the tournament. So,
00:27:50
um, just something else I did. Yeah, it
00:27:52
always classic rock songs like um Yeah,
00:27:55
I I pretty much just listen to classic
00:27:57
rock. My whole music roll on my iPod or
00:28:00
iPad uh is just classic rock. Yeah. I
00:28:02
don't venture into country or anything
00:28:04
else. Just classic rock. I mean, you
00:28:06
know, like that's what I like. Yeah.
00:28:08
Foreigner. Um, NXS, Australian Crawl.
00:28:12
Yeah, you can go through them all. Yeah.
00:28:14
Brian Adams. Yeah. Super [ __ ] AC/DC,
00:28:17
NXS, Mental is Anything, Choir Boys,
00:28:21
lots of Osok in there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:23
I think when I first cried in Australia
00:28:25
uh in those early years and that um we
00:28:27
used to go so often to pubs in Australia
00:28:29
and all these bands before a lot of
00:28:31
these bands I listen to like Mondo Rock
00:28:33
and Cold Chis and that they were pub
00:28:34
bands to start with um before they
00:28:36
really hit the the big time and that and
00:28:38
you could see them in the pubs in
00:28:39
Australia and anyone that's been to
00:28:41
Australia you knows the pub rock scene's
00:28:43
huge there. I mean, not that it's not
00:28:44
here in New Zealand, but they've
00:28:46
obviously had a far greater number of
00:28:48
bands given the population and it's a
00:28:50
big scene, the Aussie pub rock scene.
00:28:52
And I used to love that when I was
00:28:53
younger. So, so you you select a song,
00:28:56
say for the majors um you know, for say
00:28:59
Augusta Masters and um are you singing
00:29:02
it to yourself or are you singing it out
00:29:03
loud and sharing it with Tiger? Yeah. He
00:29:05
must be like, "What the [ __ ] is this
00:29:06
song light up? What's this?" Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:08
Yeah. So, you know, sometimes it was
00:29:10
just there and and other times I'd, you
00:29:12
know, be humming it away a little
00:29:14
bit and and most of the times he was
00:29:17
like, "Man, what's your kind of music,
00:29:19
man? You need to get updated here, son."
00:29:20
Cuz his music when we were in the car
00:29:22
and that and he' pushed his radio
00:29:24
station. I'd pushed my radio station.
00:29:25
They were two different varieties. Yeah.
00:29:27
What was he doing? Like sort of hip-hop.
00:29:29
Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Um, another
00:29:32
thing, I suppose this is a Williamsism.
00:29:34
You You didn't have a cell phone. you
00:29:36
were like resistant about technology and
00:29:39
Tiger had to end up buying you one your
00:29:40
first cell phone because it became too
00:29:43
um I don't know arduous I guess like
00:29:45
trying to track you down in your hotel
00:29:47
room again again to time stamp this this
00:29:49
is like the late '9s so yeah they
00:29:51
weren't smartphones it was probably like
00:29:52
a yeah I just I guess I've always tried
00:29:56
to do things a little bit different uh
00:29:59
not just in any aspect of life I like to
00:30:02
do things a little bit different to the
00:30:03
norm um and I just resisted on getting a
00:30:06
cell phone. I said, "I mean, what do you
00:30:07
need a cell phone for?" I mean, uh, you
00:30:10
know, you you if you need to call me and
00:30:11
call me in the morning at night in the
00:30:13
hotel and that that that I I held my
00:30:15
ground for as long as I could and he
00:30:16
made me have one so that he could get a
00:30:18
hold of me outside of the Yeah. So, I
00:30:20
held off as long as I could. Yeah.
00:30:22
What's your relationship like with a
00:30:24
cellular device now? Oh, look, I'm not
00:30:25
I'm not a big phone person at all. In
00:30:27
fact, my wife recently um we had a bit
00:30:31
of a moment in our house where my son
00:30:33
Jet had some mates come over and and up
00:30:35
until two years ago, I still was using a
00:30:38
flip phone and they thought that they
00:30:40
had never seen a flip phone. They
00:30:41
thought that was the remote for the TV
00:30:43
and they were trying to turn the TV on
00:30:45
with my phone and we got a huge laugh at
00:30:46
that and my wife said, "I think it's
00:30:48
time you actually went and got a a
00:30:49
proper phone." So, yeah, I had to bow to
00:30:52
that. But, uh look, I mean, I just like
00:30:54
I said, I like to do things different.
00:30:55
I'm not I'm not a technology person and
00:30:57
and like to be fair I just I actually
00:30:59
hate phones. I mean I think the way the
00:31:01
world is now people just spend way too
00:31:04
much time on their phones and you know
00:31:05
when we were younger you make a phone
00:31:06
call you ring someone from the telephone
00:31:08
in your home and that was all that was
00:31:10
available. I don't know why we still
00:31:11
can't do that today. Yeah. Um another
00:31:14
really cool thing um handwritten notes
00:31:16
of feedback and criticism back and forth
00:31:18
between Tiger and yourself. So you'd
00:31:20
finish a round um and you you'd end up
00:31:23
with the golf clubs and you'd have to
00:31:24
return them to his room. Yeah. So I was
00:31:26
always in charge of the clubs and that
00:31:28
and and sometimes I'd take them if we
00:31:30
were staying in the same same hotel, I'd
00:31:31
be in my room or he I'd put them in his
00:31:33
room. Uh and sometimes when I thought
00:31:35
there was uh something nice to be added
00:31:38
to the day, we did these handwritten
00:31:40
notes and then quite often in the
00:31:42
morning I would come back to get his
00:31:44
clubs and you know he would leave
00:31:45
earlier to either go to the the gym or
00:31:48
stretch at the golf course or or go to
00:31:49
the golf course to have his breakfast
00:31:51
whatever it may be and there would be a
00:31:52
note accompanying the golf clubs, a
00:31:54
return note from yesterday's note. Um
00:31:57
they were special things and that's you
00:31:59
know that was done primarily cuz I
00:32:01
didn't have a phone obviously. So I
00:32:03
would write a little note and I found
00:32:04
you and I've kept those notes and they
00:32:06
meant a lot to me. There was some very
00:32:07
powerful statements in those notes and
00:32:09
some very reflective things and you know
00:32:11
and sometimes if I thought there was
00:32:13
something glaring that Tiger needed to
00:32:15
work on before he came out the next day.
00:32:17
You know my way of telling him that was
00:32:19
um via a note. Um I I guess you could
00:32:21
say that's about as old school as it
00:32:23
gets. But um there's something more
00:32:25
meaningful to writing a note as opposed
00:32:28
to a text. And I would still say that
00:32:29
today if I want to leave my wife
00:32:31
something really a nice taste or a nice
00:32:33
note my son the same way I think a note
00:32:36
is far better than a text or any other
00:32:38
kind of device communication. So um yeah
00:32:42
some of those notes and when Tiger got
00:32:45
into you know a dark space here recently
00:32:48
um he sent me a couple of notes uh yeah
00:32:52
which was really awesome. So he he he
00:32:55
you know still upheld that thing that he
00:32:57
that he knew that I liked the note side
00:32:59
of things as opposed to and this was at
00:33:01
a time where you know I had an iPad and
00:33:03
he could have sent an email but instead
00:33:05
he sent you know a letter by letter. So
00:33:07
yeah. Yeah, you're right. It's so much
00:33:08
more so much more meaningful. It's like
00:33:10
sending someone a happy birthday email
00:33:11
rather than giving them an actual
00:33:13
greeting card. Um yeah why did you why
00:33:16
did you keep all of them? Did you did
00:33:18
you realize that did they mean something
00:33:19
to you even at the time? Oh yeah,
00:33:20
absolutely. Uh yeah, I just
00:33:23
um I'm not sure what you know I just I
00:33:26
guess the first one I actually remember
00:33:27
the first one when I gave it to him and
00:33:29
um Can you remember what it said? Yeah.
00:33:31
Well,
00:33:32
we Tiger played Steven Ames. He was um
00:33:36
to play Steven Ames in the world match
00:33:38
play at Carl'sbad, California. And
00:33:41
Steven Ames made a bit of a song and a
00:33:43
dance in the media when he was asked
00:33:45
about facing Tiger. and he sort of
00:33:47
thought he was a bit overrated Tiger and
00:33:50
that and his comments weren't very uh
00:33:53
they were quite derogatory and and I
00:33:54
left Tiger a note uh to say you know
00:33:57
like hey tomorrow this is going to be a
00:34:00
match that we want to take control of
00:34:03
right from the first hole he beat him
00:34:04
nine and eight biggest victory ever in
00:34:07
that tournament um he put Steven Ames in
00:34:10
his place that was the first note and um
00:34:12
you know Tiger left a nice note um that
00:34:15
evening after I placed the clubs back as
00:34:17
room and it just something that evolved
00:34:18
from there.
00:34:20
Yeah, that's um that's a good story
00:34:22
about Steven AS. There's a line in the
00:34:23
book that um you got to remember
00:34:24
clearly. It's something like there's two
00:34:26
things you don't want to do in life. Um
00:34:28
floss a pit bull's teeth and aggravate
00:34:31
Tiger Woods. Something like that. It's a
00:34:33
great line. Yeah. Yeah. Look, I mean,
00:34:35
you know, quite often players, you know,
00:34:38
look, I it's a difficult situation for a
00:34:40
lot of the players and that because
00:34:41
Tiger, when he was in the peak of his
00:34:43
power on the tour, he was getting 90% of
00:34:45
the media coverage. Everything was
00:34:46
Tiger. It was just Tiger this, Tiger
00:34:48
that, Tiger this. And a lot of players
00:34:50
got sick of being asked about Tiger
00:34:51
instead of themselves. I get that side
00:34:53
of the situation. And they became quite,
00:34:55
you know, a lot of resentful in a lot of
00:34:57
ways. And it was, it became glaring
00:34:59
occasionally. And then some players when
00:35:01
they had the chance when they were asked
00:35:03
about Tiger instead of themselves, you
00:35:05
know, they they gave an answer that
00:35:07
probably they may maybe wish they hadn't
00:35:08
said and in particularly if they got
00:35:10
drawn with Tiger that week and then you
00:35:11
know that just you know you just you
00:35:14
never wanted to add any fuel to the fire
00:35:15
because this guy was just you know he
00:35:17
just thrived on that kind of
00:35:18
controversy. Yeah. I ended up um I ended
00:35:21
up watching uh stumbling on YouTube the
00:35:23
other day um an interview that Tiger did
00:35:24
when he was very very young like at the
00:35:26
beginning of his career. Do you know
00:35:28
what I'm talking? It's a the where the
00:35:29
reporter like laughs and says you'll
00:35:31
learn. Do you know that one? Yeah. Yeah.
00:35:34
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there's there's you
00:35:38
know there's a lot of moments like that
00:35:40
where um you know you just add fuel to
00:35:43
the fire. And look, when Tiger came back
00:35:46
after his um ordeal where he was away
00:35:49
from golf and his private life became
00:35:51
public, u when he went to play at the
00:35:54
Masters, the chairman of the Masters
00:35:56
when he had his address, you know, about
00:35:58
Tiger, you know, the comments he made
00:36:00
were pretty unfair. And you know, and
00:36:02
and in the back of my head, I said,
00:36:04
"Well, that's just the fuel he needs
00:36:05
this week to to get him fired up to play
00:36:08
well when he hasn't competed and been in
00:36:10
front of anybody for a while." And sure
00:36:12
enough, he played well. And I think
00:36:13
those comments that the chairman of
00:36:15
Augusta made were probably not the right
00:36:17
comments to come at that particular
00:36:18
time. Yeah, we we talked about that in
00:36:20
the podcast. Um yeah, last year that
00:36:22
whole thing like with the passage of
00:36:24
time, you look back and it was um it's
00:36:26
it's quite unbelievable really. Even
00:36:28
Tiger having to stand in that room and
00:36:30
make a public apology for his
00:36:31
indiscretions. It's the whole thing's
00:36:33
like it's wacky and weird. Look,
00:36:35
everybody has, you know, has their own,
00:36:39
you know, has their own story and and,
00:36:42
you know, some of it not people are
00:36:43
proud of. And look, you look at last
00:36:45
week's New Zealand Open, Dom, the guy
00:36:47
that won the Open last week, his story,
00:36:49
you know, it's it's an incredible story.
00:36:51
And everybody's got a story. It doesn't
00:36:53
matter who they are, where they come
00:36:54
from, how successful they are,
00:36:55
everybody's got a story, and everybody's
00:36:57
made errors. And that's just the way
00:36:59
life is. And when somebody that's in a
00:37:00
prominent position, as we all know here
00:37:02
in New Zealand, we're now all blacks
00:37:04
stumble, they get crucified. And and
00:37:06
Tiger was no different. Um, is it
00:37:08
justified in the media? Probably not.
00:37:10
You know, someone's private life, we all
00:37:13
make mistakes, but you know, you and I
00:37:14
make a mistake, it's doesn't mean
00:37:16
anything, but you get someone of that
00:37:17
level make a mistake and it all becomes
00:37:19
public news and and a lot of it gets
00:37:21
exaggerated and so forth. Yeah. Well, I
00:37:24
mean, yeah. the stuff we're talking
00:37:25
about like Tiger owed some people an
00:37:27
apology like his wife for example and
00:37:29
you and your wife but um in terms of
00:37:32
like standing in front of a room with
00:37:33
his mom there and all these like um golf
00:37:36
executives. Yeah. The whole thing is
00:37:39
very very weird and I think the more
00:37:40
time goes by the more we're going to
00:37:42
realize just how weird that time was.
00:37:44
Yeah. I mean people like you know like
00:37:47
people going to like anything do
00:37:49
everyone's just going to remember Tiger
00:37:51
as a guy that's won you know 15 major
00:37:53
championships won the four majors in
00:37:56
concession and was the greatest player
00:37:58
that ever played and like in 20 years
00:38:00
time like anything nobody's going to
00:38:01
remember that kind of stuff 100%. Oh
00:38:03
there there was um there's a motto in
00:38:05
the book which um I wanted to ask for
00:38:06
elaboration on cuz I didn't really
00:38:07
understand it. Um fast pay makes fast
00:38:10
friends. Oh we we we we had lots of
00:38:13
bets. Tiger and I were would continually
00:38:15
um make little bets sometimes when
00:38:18
things would wouldn't go so well on the
00:38:20
course and that and you're looking for a
00:38:22
way to stimulate some energy and and
00:38:24
some find some quick form on the course
00:38:26
to reather yourself. You know, we'd have
00:38:28
a little bet. Uh okay, over the next
00:38:30
nine holes, if you can hit every fairway
00:38:32
in every green, I owe 100 and for every
00:38:34
green that you miss and every fairy
00:38:36
miss, you owe me 100. and we'd have all
00:38:38
sorts of bets and those bets had to be
00:38:41
paid at the end of the end of the day.
00:38:43
They weren't carryovers from last week
00:38:44
or that fast pay makes fast friends. So
00:38:46
bets any betting had to be exchanged the
00:38:49
straight away. So yes, it seems like
00:38:51
there was a lot of betting going on like
00:38:53
u you you'd be running a golf course and
00:38:55
bunch of people would be having bets on
00:38:57
you doing it in a certain time. Um did
00:38:59
you did you do quite handsomely out of
00:39:01
it up or down at the end?
00:39:04
Well, I mean I I I I I guess you know I
00:39:07
would generally come out on top because
00:39:09
when I'd say to tiger you got nine holes
00:39:11
to go every fairway and that well you
00:39:13
know generally over the course of period
00:39:15
you know he'd hit 65% of the fairways
00:39:17
would be would be his average. So I
00:39:19
would know probably going to miss one
00:39:21
out of four fairways and that. So, um,
00:39:23
but when there's 100 bucks on the line,
00:39:24
that was meant more to him than the
00:39:26
tournament. And like getting a 100 off
00:39:27
me or his mates or his coach, that mean
00:39:29
more than winning the tournament cuz he
00:39:31
hates losing. And he, um, he gifted you
00:39:34
a Ford GT40. I'm not really a car guy.
00:39:37
What, what, what, what, what, what,
00:39:37
what, what, what, what, what does, what
00:39:37
does that mean? What does it look like?
00:39:39
Uh, a Ford GT40. Uh, Ford, sorry, a
00:39:42
GT40. Uh, the GT the 40 comes from 40 in
00:39:46
over the off the ground. It's it's a
00:39:48
replica of the cars that competed
00:39:50
Lemon's way back. It was yeah it's a
00:39:52
pretty special vehicle. It's a race car
00:39:54
basically a road road ready race car and
00:39:57
that and uh it was a very very funny
00:40:00
story how that came about. We were in
00:40:02
Dubai in 2004. Tiger was playing in the
00:40:04
Dubai Desert Classic and we were on
00:40:06
Sunday. We were in the gym. Um we were
00:40:08
watching the final round unfold from
00:40:10
Miami where the it's called the Ford
00:40:11
Open. And Craig Perry actually hold his
00:40:13
second shot on the last hold to win the
00:40:15
tournament, Australian player.
00:40:17
And apart from the prize money, there
00:40:20
was a Ford GT on offer. And I said to Ty
00:40:22
cuz I'm a big Ford guy and he was with
00:40:24
Buick at the time. So, you know, it's
00:40:25
that Ford versus Holden, Ford versus
00:40:27
Chevy. And I'm I'm a stoic Ford person.
00:40:30
And I said, you know, what are we doing
00:40:31
here playing in Dubai? You could be
00:40:33
playing in that tournament, winning that
00:40:34
car. You know, I'm a big Ford man. It
00:40:36
was just a bit of banter while we were
00:40:37
actually riding, peddling along on our
00:40:39
bikes, having a bit of banter. The next
00:40:41
year, he plays in the tournament. And um
00:40:43
you know, it was an epic duel with Phil
00:40:45
Mickelson. And on on the Sunday,
00:40:48
the play went outside the TV time that
00:40:52
so they didn't have time to do the
00:40:53
presentation after the they check the
00:40:55
cars. They do a very quick impromptu
00:40:57
presentation on the 18th green there.
00:40:58
And as we're walking off the green,
00:41:00
Tiger just chucked the car keys. No word
00:41:02
spoken. Just chuck the car
00:41:04
keys. So, you know, I had that Ford GT
00:41:08
delivered in Oregon where I was living
00:41:10
uh when I was in America, shipped home
00:41:11
here to New Zealand. So, it's a pretty
00:41:13
uh unique vehicle. In fact, there's only
00:41:15
two of them of that. Um they made 3,000
00:41:18
of those in that remake and uh there's
00:41:20
two of them in New Zealand, one of which
00:41:22
I have one of them. Yeah. How often you
00:41:24
take it out? Uh, not often enough, but I
00:41:28
it's um it's a collector vehicle, so the
00:41:30
less miles on it, uh, the greater the
00:41:32
value. Um, but I, yeah, I run it around
00:41:35
the block. It's very noisy and very
00:41:36
quick, and, you know, it's a hard car
00:41:38
not to put your foot down, so I have to
00:41:40
take it out on a bit of road where I
00:41:41
know there's going to be no cops around
00:41:43
and give it a blast. They'll be setting
00:41:45
up cameras in your neighborhood now.
00:41:47
Yes. So, it's worth um, according to the
00:41:49
book, like worth like half a million
00:41:50
now. US. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very
00:41:52
valuable car and that but um yeah, I
00:41:55
mean it'll stay in the family. I'll hand
00:41:56
it down to my son and he'll hand it down
00:41:58
and you know those sort of vehicles, you
00:42:00
know, in a hundred years times it'll be,
00:42:02
you know, an incredible amount of money
00:42:04
that it's worth. But it's just a
00:42:05
collector thing and and I see that as a
00:42:07
great uh family treasure. Yeah. I feel
00:42:10
like for you it's not um it's not so
00:42:12
much the investment, it's um the
00:42:14
sentimental value. Oh yeah, absolutely.
00:42:15
And it would never go outside the
00:42:17
family. It was just it started as a joke
00:42:19
in in a hotel in Dubai riding the bikes
00:42:21
to you know just chuck me the car keys
00:42:24
uh and I had uh a little bit of a thrill
00:42:27
in it and and um when I got the vehicle
00:42:30
and you know Tiger Phil Mickelson who
00:42:33
who defeated on the last hole there hit
00:42:34
a chip shot that realistically I don't
00:42:36
know how it didn't go in cuz Phil was
00:42:38
iring up that car too and he was with
00:42:40
Ford at the time. Uh, and I had sort of
00:42:43
I had great pleasure in saying to Phil,
00:42:45
"Well, Phil, it's too bad, but you
00:42:47
wouldn't have fit in it
00:42:49
anyway." So, Tiger and I had a great
00:42:51
laugh. He said, "Steve, you didn't say
00:42:53
that, did you?" I said, "Yeah, I
00:42:55
did, dude."
00:42:57
Um, yeah. I mean, did did Tiger secretly
00:43:00
love that stuff? Oh, look. Like, you I
00:43:03
mean, there's the the Phil staff. Um,
00:43:04
you Yeah, you called him a prick once or
00:43:06
something like that publicly. Um, even
00:43:09
other things non-filler related like you
00:43:10
kicking the camera when someone's
00:43:12
shutter went off um during a back swing.
00:43:14
Um, I suppose publicly he's sort of had
00:43:16
to be seen to sort of not, you know,
00:43:19
disapprove, but secretly he loved that
00:43:20
[ __ ] right? Oh, we we had some great
00:43:22
jokes and that. Look, I mean, I I like I
00:43:24
said, I tried to protect him, you know,
00:43:26
the best I could, but like you know, him
00:43:28
and Phil were great arch rivals. He he
00:43:30
knew um that once Phil got on a roll
00:43:34
with majors, he was going to be hard to
00:43:36
beat in that. And um and they became
00:43:38
great rivals. They weren't best of
00:43:40
mates. You know, you don't have to be
00:43:41
best of mates. They were rivals. And
00:43:43
it's not often that the the guy that you
00:43:46
have the most respect for and and you
00:43:48
think is going to be the the guy that's
00:43:50
is going to challenge you the most. You
00:43:52
know, it's unlikely that you're going to
00:43:53
be friends with him. And um but yeah,
00:43:54
little moments like that when when I
00:43:56
told Tiger that you when we had a great
00:43:58
laugh. It's such a [ __ ] line. So good.
00:44:01
Um, oh, so yeah, one more question on
00:44:03
that GT. I say how many KS on the clock,
00:44:06
do you know? Uh, it's got 1,600 miles.
00:44:08
Unreal. Yeah. Still left hand drive.
00:44:11
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. There you could
00:44:12
you couldn't change a car like that from
00:44:13
left hand drive to right hand drive.
00:44:15
Yeah.
00:44:17
That's very low miles, isn't it? Yeah.
00:44:19
Yeah. Well, it is the thing though that
00:44:22
that the less miles they have and uh a
00:44:24
vehicle like that when you if you did go
00:44:26
to sell it, you've got to give Ford the
00:44:27
first chance. That's part of the deal.
00:44:29
You got to give them the first option to
00:44:30
buy it back. But the less miles it's
00:44:32
got, the better condition it's in. And
00:44:34
um yeah, that's just that that's how
00:44:36
those cars are judged by the mileage and
00:44:38
the condition. Yeah. Um there's another
00:44:40
story in the book about you dropping a a
00:44:42
yardage book into a portaloo. So um like
00:44:47
first what is a yardage book? How
00:44:49
important is it? And was there any way
00:44:50
you could have, you know, fished it out?
00:44:54
Well, I did fish it
00:44:55
out, but uh a yardage book is is a memo.
00:45:00
It is a diagram of the hole, a very
00:45:02
accurate diagram of the hole with all
00:45:03
the measurements. So, you know, how far
00:45:05
from the tea to the bunker, from the
00:45:07
bunker to the green, all the
00:45:08
measurements on the green is it's a
00:45:09
catty's bible. Uh when I first started
00:45:12
cadding, we made them ourselves. And
00:45:15
that was the the the art of catting is
00:45:17
has severely been diminished over the
00:45:19
years that because we had to make those
00:45:21
books ourselves. And it took hours to do
00:45:23
that. For instance, uh the very first
00:45:25
time I went to St. Andrews uh in 1980 to
00:45:28
make a yardage book. I think it took 14
00:45:30
hours from memory to actually compile a
00:45:32
yardage book accurately and get every
00:45:35
bunker in that book and everything you
00:45:36
need to know. Now you just turn up and
00:45:38
buy one of these books. So, you know,
00:45:40
like and and and we have, you know,
00:45:43
green reading devices and uh lasers that
00:45:45
shoot the distances and stuff. So, u but
00:45:48
as far as Yeah, I did drop a yardage
00:45:50
book one morning. Um it it was in
00:45:52
Florida and it was a very hot morning.
00:45:54
Fortunately, no one had been into the
00:45:55
toilet. It had been cleaned out and it
00:45:57
was just clear blue water. It was a
00:45:58
really hot morning and I got that out
00:46:00
quickly and and as we were walking
00:46:01
along, I'd open each page under the
00:46:03
morning sun hoping it would drive it. It
00:46:05
was very embarrassing moment. Oh, that's
00:46:07
a that's a good explanation. I sort of
00:46:08
imagined like a festival at the end of
00:46:10
the day. Oh, no, no, no, no. It was
00:46:11
during play.
00:46:13
Um Oh, yeah. Michael Jordan gets a few
00:46:16
mentions in the book. Uh you talk about
00:46:17
him and Tiger being hilarious on the
00:46:19
golf course together.
00:46:21
Yeah. Can you elaborate on that? Well,
00:46:23
Michael's just the ultimate competitor.
00:46:25
Um, just like Tiger. Absolutely hates to
00:46:28
lose. And he he plays, you know, like I
00:46:31
used to joke with Michael that, you
00:46:32
know, you play more than Tiger does. I
00:46:33
mean, you know, if he can play 72 holes
00:46:35
in a day, he would. And one day, uh, I
00:46:38
was cing for Tiger or not C like with
00:46:40
with Tiger. Uh, they played 54 holes at
00:46:43
Madina one day, just went round and
00:46:45
round and round. And the reason why they
00:46:46
kept going around because Michael got
00:46:48
further and further down and just kept
00:46:49
double doubling up, doubling up,
00:46:50
doubling up. You know, he he's well
00:46:52
known for his gambling. Uh he's not an
00:46:54
addict, but he just loves to gamble and
00:46:56
he loved to gamble on the golf course
00:46:57
and and he's a very good player. And um
00:47:00
you know, the banter between them two
00:47:01
was hilarious uh when they played golf.
00:47:03
And two incredibly gifted athletes and
00:47:07
two incredible desires to win. And
00:47:10
whilst out in the golf course, it's
00:47:12
Tiger's domain and not Michael's domain
00:47:14
because obviously if you step onto a
00:47:15
basketball court and try and compete
00:47:16
with him. Well, there's no handicap in
00:47:18
basketball, he's just going to knock you
00:47:19
over like a fly. But on the golf course,
00:47:21
he's got a handicap and he can compete
00:47:23
against Tiger and he wanted every scent
00:47:24
he could get out of him. What sort of
00:47:26
stakes? Oh, they're playing for big
00:47:28
stakes. I mean, it's not for me to delve
00:47:30
into that, but they're playing for big
00:47:31
stakes and that, you know, $1,000 a
00:47:33
whole sort of stuff, but which, you
00:47:34
know, a big deal. Yeah. If you're a
00:47:36
billionaire, that's nothing, right? Like
00:47:38
it was never about the money. just the
00:47:40
the guy that could at the end of the day
00:47:41
that had to buy the drinks and and you
00:47:43
know that was a special moment whether
00:47:45
it would be Tiger or Michael and cigars.
00:47:47
Yeah. Yep. Yeah. No, Michael loves that
00:47:49
cigar. Tig Tiger not while he was
00:47:50
playing, but Michael he he's got that
00:47:53
scar and he's got that swagger and you
00:47:55
know you can't sort of he his charisma
00:47:58
is just you know second to none that
00:48:01
I've met and you know you if the moment
00:48:03
you give him a bit of banter he's just
00:48:05
right back with the right line and that
00:48:07
um very clever and I can imagine him on
00:48:09
the basketball court in his heyday um he
00:48:12
would have been a hard guy to navigate
00:48:13
because he's got all the answers. Yeah.
00:48:16
Have you seen The Last Dance TV series
00:48:18
on Netflix or Yeah, absolutely. When you
00:48:20
got it when you when you know somebody
00:48:22
personally and you've had a bit of an
00:48:24
insight uh with someone like that, you
00:48:26
you can't help but like looking at that.
00:48:28
Yeah. I mean, just a you know, I mean,
00:48:30
what what a gifted guy. I mean, tried
00:48:32
baseball for a little bit uh went back
00:48:34
to basketball and and and and uh carries
00:48:37
a very low handicap. I mean, you know,
00:48:38
just those guys are incredible. Some of
00:48:40
these sportsmen, not just the the sport
00:48:42
that they make a living at, but they can
00:48:44
play other sports. Yeah, you you can see
00:48:46
why those two um like bond today because
00:48:49
they're I mean there's a lot of
00:48:50
parallels between them. Very different
00:48:51
sports, but you very very similar
00:48:54
mindsets I guess and um you know
00:48:56
uniqueness in terms of their ability.
00:48:57
Well, look, I'm sure you know Michael's
00:48:59
had a word into Tiger's Air from time to
00:49:01
time and and assisted him greatly in in
00:49:04
and modeling himself become the athlete
00:49:05
he became.
00:49:07
There's another story um in the book.
00:49:09
Uh, so you're staying on Tiger's boat
00:49:12
privacy and um Roger Fedra dingies in
00:49:15
for for dinner or whatever. It's just
00:49:17
the most surreal stories. It's crazy.
00:49:19
So, who who else is at the dinner? Is it
00:49:21
just the three of you? It's or is there
00:49:23
a bunch of people there? Yeah. No. So,
00:49:25
when they um used to have the World Golf
00:49:28
Championship event in Miami, um the tour
00:49:32
the Kiscane tennis tournament was on at
00:49:34
the same time. I think the I don't
00:49:36
recall it was the first week or second
00:49:37
week. So Roger was in town in Miami the
00:49:39
same the golf tournament was in town the
00:49:40
same time as the tennis tournament. Uh
00:49:42
and Roger and his wife had come over
00:49:44
onto the boat one night for dinner. It
00:49:46
just be Tiger and his wife and myself
00:49:48
for dinner. And um yeah it was
00:49:50
fascinating. I I was very fortunate to
00:49:54
meet a lot of those people like um that
00:49:56
Tiger Wayne Gretzky and another and uh
00:49:59
Ken Griffy Jr. and some of these players
00:50:01
and I was never afraid to ask some of
00:50:02
these guys, you know, how do they get to
00:50:05
be so good? what you know how do they
00:50:08
practice this that and the other but the
00:50:09
the common thing between all these guys
00:50:12
is just not so much how much you
00:50:14
practice but how you practice you know
00:50:16
you've got to make every shot hit counts
00:50:19
and that doesn't mean matter whether
00:50:20
you're on the golf course or you're on
00:50:22
the practice and that's one of the
00:50:23
reasons why Tiger became as good as he
00:50:26
was because every shot he hit had a
00:50:28
meaning to it a lot of players just get
00:50:29
on the if they go and practice for three
00:50:30
or four hours they just stand there
00:50:31
hitting balls they might chat to their
00:50:33
mates for a half an hour make a phone
00:50:35
call for 10 minutes or you know da da da
00:50:37
when Tiger practiced every shot he hit
00:50:39
had a purpose. It had you know had a
00:50:40
meaning to it. he was trying to hit a
00:50:42
particular shape or he was visualizing a
00:50:44
shot for a particular hole and there was
00:50:47
there was concentration to every shot
00:50:48
was just wasn't okay hit a ball place
00:50:51
another you know you know it's like you
00:50:52
go to the drive range you hit one get
00:50:53
another one hit one hit one there was
00:50:55
none of that it was so that the not like
00:50:58
I say not so much the time but the
00:51:00
effort that went into it and and you
00:51:02
know when I was talking to Roger about
00:51:04
his success and how how he got to be so
00:51:06
great it's the same story you know he he
00:51:09
said he didn't practice as much as other
00:51:10
players but those practices, every
00:51:12
practice had a meaning to it. He was
00:51:14
thinking about a match that he was
00:51:15
coming, the kind of shot he was trying
00:51:16
to practice, the type of spin he was
00:51:18
trying to put on the ball, how he's
00:51:19
trying to execute the shot. So, there
00:51:21
was thought that goes into every shot.
00:51:22
And you know when you you when you look
00:51:24
at that uh what makes some of these guys
00:51:27
so good is you know what's the
00:51:29
difference between Roger Fedra a Wayne
00:51:31
Gretzky a Tiger Woods between the other
00:51:33
guys is they can execute on Sunday or
00:51:36
not in our case it's Sunday and tennis
00:51:38
would be Sunday but they can execute the
00:51:40
shots under the highest amount of
00:51:42
pressure and why is that because they've
00:51:43
put themselves under that pressure in
00:51:45
their own space when they're practicing
00:51:47
they visualize they're hitting the
00:51:49
second shot to the masters or Michael's
00:51:51
making that last bucket, you know, at
00:51:54
the buzzer and that sort of thing. They
00:51:55
they play that over and over. So, when
00:51:57
they actually have to come and do it,
00:51:59
the muscle memory takes over and they
00:52:00
can do it. It's a fascinating thing. And
00:52:03
uh there's a lot to be said for how you
00:52:05
practice.
00:52:06
Yeah. There's a saying I really like. I
00:52:08
don't know who it's um attributed to,
00:52:09
but um the saying is um perfect practice
00:52:11
makes perfect. Yeah. Proper preparation
00:52:13
prevents poor performance. The five Ps.
00:52:15
And I live by that saying that it
00:52:17
doesn't matter what sport you do. If you
00:52:19
prepare properly and accurately for what
00:52:22
you're trying to do, you'll succeed.
00:52:23
Yeah. Did Did you Is this just knowledge
00:52:26
that you've picked up along the way with
00:52:28
these champions that you've worked with
00:52:29
or did you sort of have this like like
00:52:32
pre-orman? Oh, no. No, not not pre-
00:52:34
Norman. No, you just you just like you
00:52:37
know I when you are as fortunate as I
00:52:40
was to be on the tour at a very young
00:52:42
age and I knew I was fortunate based on
00:52:44
how you know looking around like all
00:52:46
these other guys I'm counting with are
00:52:47
old and I'm out there one of the
00:52:48
youngest guys out there. Well I was the
00:52:49
youngest when I started uh and and and I
00:52:53
quickly you know wanted to be different
00:52:55
and I thought collecting notes and just
00:52:57
taking all this information and
00:52:58
listening in and that but yeah Greg Greg
00:53:00
was a big one on the you know on the
00:53:02
five Ps. Proper preparation prevents
00:53:04
poor performance and um yeah that's you
00:53:08
know it's a it's a great motto to live
00:53:10
by.
00:53:12
Yeah he he's yeah we haven't really
00:53:14
talked about him but he's amazing. How
00:53:15
old is how's Greg Norman now? He he's
00:53:17
ripped out. He's in incredible shape.
00:53:19
Yeah. So Greg just had his uh 70th I
00:53:22
believe uh just recently. Yeah. I mean,
00:53:25
yeah. Um, you know, another wonderful
00:53:27
athlete that's had an amazing career and
00:53:29
obviously, uh, has had a lot of, uh,
00:53:31
been in the news a lot in the last years
00:53:33
with the introduction of the Liv Tour,
00:53:34
which he had run, uh, the first two
00:53:36
seasons of the Liv Tour, got that up off
00:53:38
the ground and was the front man for
00:53:40
that. So, yeah, he's had, you know, an
00:53:42
incredible career and now he's involved
00:53:44
with the um, the Olympics. They're
00:53:46
coming to Australia in another couple of
00:53:47
Olympic cycles. Yeah. Yeah. So, um,
00:53:50
yeah. Like CEO or director or something?
00:53:52
Yeah. Well, I mean, he's obviously had
00:53:54
huge experience with putting this live
00:53:56
league to tour and it's a worldwide
00:53:58
thing and that. So, um, golf's included
00:54:01
in the Olympics and will be in
00:54:02
Australia. So, yeah, he you know, look,
00:54:04
Gre Greg's one of the most prized
00:54:07
Australian athletes of all time and that
00:54:08
and, um, you know, he'll he'll be a huge
00:54:11
asset to the organizing committee there
00:54:13
with his knowledge and and his
00:54:15
popularity and and, um, it'll be great
00:54:17
for the Olympics. Yeah. Was that the
00:54:20
first private plane you went on, Greg
00:54:21
Norman's? Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So he he had
00:54:23
his own plane. When was this? In the
00:54:24
80s. Yeah. So Yeah. No one had private
00:54:27
planes back then, right? Oh, a few of
00:54:28
them did, did they? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:54:30
So, yeah. No, look look, a lot of the
00:54:32
guys that make a tremendous amount of
00:54:34
money, not not just in golf, but in all
00:54:36
these sports there, that they they use a
00:54:38
plane. It's it's a tax write off for a
00:54:40
lot of them. They make so much money and
00:54:41
and it makes like if you consider if
00:54:43
you've got a family and a couple of kids
00:54:44
and a trainer and a caddy and a coach
00:54:46
and a manager, all that and you got your
00:54:47
own plane that as opposed to getting
00:54:49
five or six air tickets and that. But
00:54:52
yeah, it's a convenience thing that in
00:54:53
America u very few of the pros that play
00:54:56
the tour. They don't have their own
00:54:57
planes personally, but they buy into
00:55:00
these companies where they buy hours off
00:55:02
these companies, these, you know, quite
00:55:03
executive jet NetJets and a few of these
00:55:05
companies that you can buy hours off. So
00:55:08
you, you know, you buy 100 hours and you
00:55:10
just ring up and say, I want to go from
00:55:11
here to here on this day and that plane
00:55:12
will pick you up and take you there. And
00:55:14
uh it's just a sheer thing. But um yeah,
00:55:17
pretty uh when you look back now and
00:55:20
you're flying on private planes, my son
00:55:22
recently or but when I last cattied for
00:55:24
for Adam and he's got his own plane too
00:55:26
and and and um my son Jet had the chance
00:55:30
to ride for few hours on a private
00:55:32
plane, he he thought that was pretty
00:55:34
cool.
00:55:36
Yeah. Sorry about these. Um, the these
00:55:37
are probably inane questions, especially
00:55:39
for someone as low-key as you, but I'm
00:55:40
just intrigued and I'm asking these on
00:55:42
behalf of myself and anyone else that
00:55:44
will never get to go on a private plane.
00:55:45
Um,
00:55:46
but yeah, it's badass, right? Yeah.
00:55:50
Well, I mean, the the ultimate private
00:55:51
plane uh outside of what they call a
00:55:53
bisjet is a G5, a GFream 5. There's a
00:55:56
Gulf Stream 1 2 3 4 5. Golf Stream 5 is
00:55:58
the is the choice of champions if you
00:56:01
like. And Tiger's got a G5 and Adam's
00:56:03
got a G5. Um Arnold Palmer had one, Jack
00:56:07
Nicholas had one. There's not uh but
00:56:09
that's that's there's actually a thing
00:56:10
called a bisjet which is like a 737
00:56:13
decked out privately um which some of
00:56:16
the
00:56:17
um teams use like the you know like
00:56:21
we've been on the Orlando Magic plane
00:56:22
one time so they they have a setup and
00:56:25
that but like as far as an individual
00:56:26
person having a private jet a G5 is the
00:56:28
ultimate uh jet and you know I've been
00:56:31
fortunate to cave two guys that have a
00:56:32
G5. So, uh, it's a pretty nice way to
00:56:35
travel. Yeah. Is it Is it hard to go
00:56:36
back to commercial? Even like business
00:56:38
class commercial after Oh, there's no
00:56:40
comparison.
00:56:42
Yeah. So, so, um, in the book you talk
00:56:44
about sometimes you're on um, Tiger's
00:56:47
Jet and you know, he's got friends or
00:56:48
there's a conversation going on, so you
00:56:50
just sort of disappear to the back of
00:56:51
the plane. What's the layout like? Is it
00:56:53
like 12 seats, eight seats? Oh, they
00:56:55
configurate, you know, they they you can
00:56:57
configurate the plane however you want
00:56:59
in that. So e each person might have a
00:57:01
different configuration when they
00:57:02
purchase a plane like that. But um it
00:57:04
easy accommodates 10 people. Yeah. And
00:57:07
has four beds. And who who was usually
00:57:10
on there? Tiger yourself, Tiger's
00:57:12
manager. Yeah, that's basically it.
00:57:14
Yeah. Tiger's wife if she was coming
00:57:16
along and that it's a very very uh there
00:57:19
was never a case of who's sitting where.
00:57:21
Everyone knew where their place was and
00:57:23
it was a small select thing. Tiger,
00:57:25
unlike a lot of the athletes in his
00:57:27
position, always had a small group of
00:57:29
people. Had a manager, a coach, um, and
00:57:33
a trainer, and that's about it. Yeah,
00:57:34
very small group. A lot of a lot of
00:57:36
these guys have extra people. Um, but
00:57:38
no, he liked to have a small group.
00:57:42
Um, yeah, something that else that's
00:57:44
referenced in the book that I'd
00:57:45
forgotten about it completely. Um, so in
00:57:47
2005, Tiger finished second in the US
00:57:49
Open. Um, the year that Cambo, Michael
00:57:51
Campbell, won. Um, so you're cattying
00:57:54
for Tiger. Um, it's basically Tiger
00:57:56
versus um, one of our local heroes.
00:57:59
Yeah. How's that for you? Yeah. Well,
00:58:01
look, it's mixed emotions. Look, I would
00:58:05
say that's my ultimate cadding dream.
00:58:08
Um, and that only got to happen a couple
00:58:10
of times. Uh, firstly, uh, with Grant
00:58:13
Weight at the Canadian Open, uh, and
00:58:16
secondly with Michael Campbell at
00:58:18
Pinehurst. And um and you know in fact
00:58:21
um you know this year is the 20th
00:58:24
anniversary uh of Michael's triumph at
00:58:27
at Pinehurst. And right or wrongly, I
00:58:30
said at the time that, you know, I
00:58:32
thought it was the greatest sporting
00:58:34
achievement by any New Zealander. And I
00:58:35
wasn't taking anything away from Bob
00:58:37
Charles's victory in the 63 Open
00:58:39
Championship or, you know, Sir Edman
00:58:41
Hillary climbed Mount Everest. But, you
00:58:44
know, just get considering that a local
00:58:46
Kiwi boy from Tahi Bay that grew up uh
00:58:49
on a golf course with sheep around the,
00:58:51
you know, fences around the green with
00:58:52
sheep on the golf course uh took down
00:58:55
the number one player in the world in
00:58:56
his prime at the US Open. Um, you know,
00:58:59
that was uh a pretty gifted moment and
00:59:03
it was a lot of thing that a lot of one
00:59:06
thing about that tournament that most
00:59:07
people don't know is Tiger stood around
00:59:11
for the presentation. um which no one
00:59:15
ever would do when they finished
00:59:17
second. Tiger knew the story of Michael
00:59:20
and he had the utmost respect for that.
00:59:22
He obviously knew that Michael and I
00:59:23
were friends and Michael's caddy,
00:59:25
Michael White, uh known as Sponge, a New
00:59:27
Zealander here from New Plymouth that
00:59:29
was cing for Michael at the time. Uh him
00:59:31
and I are great mates. Um and Tiger
00:59:34
stood around for the presentation. Um
00:59:37
you know, which he would never do and no
00:59:39
one that's finished as runner up. They
00:59:40
are not required at the presentation.
00:59:41
and he he was there for the presentation
00:59:44
and um that was a very special moment
00:59:46
for me. It just kind of told me how much
00:59:48
he respected uh the bond that we have
00:59:51
between New Zealanders and um yeah
00:59:54
that's something that went probably you
00:59:55
know unnoticed there. Did Tiger make a
00:59:58
habit of doing that like if Right.
01:00:00
Right. the only time he ever did it. And
01:00:02
and you know, like I said, um he just
01:00:04
had the utmost appreciation of Michael's
01:00:06
upbringing
01:00:07
um and his background and what what he'd
01:00:11
accomplished and he he was there for the
01:00:12
presentation. It was a special moment.
01:00:16
Yeah. I suppose that says a lot about um
01:00:19
your relationship with Tiger and what
01:00:20
you meant to Tiger rather, you know, he
01:00:22
probably didn't really know Michael
01:00:23
Campbell from a bar of soap, right? No,
01:00:25
no. I mean he just he was another player
01:00:27
but you know he he he knew the
01:00:28
camaraderie between us Kiwis and yeah
01:00:31
look it was just an incredible moment. I
01:00:33
mean, Michael took down Tiger in the
01:00:35
power, you know, in the when he was at
01:00:37
the power of his, you know, the peak of
01:00:38
his form and that was an unbelievable
01:00:40
achievement. And um, you know, it's
01:00:42
incredible. Like, that's the last major
01:00:45
wouldn't have had. We've only had two
01:00:46
and, you know, we're producing a lot of
01:00:48
good players and, you know, who's to
01:00:49
know when the next one is, but you know,
01:00:51
1963 to 2005 and here we are 2025.
01:00:54
That's another 20 years gone past. It
01:00:56
just shows you how difficult major
01:00:58
champions are to win. you know, for
01:01:00
Michael to do what he did was a special
01:01:02
moment in sporting history here in New
01:01:04
Zealand. Yeah. What's Cambo doing these
01:01:06
days? It's a name you don't hear much
01:01:07
about. Eh, yeah, Michael has a uh golf
01:01:10
academy in Spain. Um uh where he
01:01:12
teaches, the Michael Campbell Golf
01:01:14
Academy. And uh more recently, he
01:01:16
started to get back playing a little bit
01:01:17
on the European Senior Tour. Um they
01:01:20
have a a tour. It's not a big tour
01:01:22
unlike the uh Champions Tour in America,
01:01:24
but he has got back to playing a little
01:01:26
bit and and actually playing a little,
01:01:29
you know, found a little bit of form
01:01:30
last year in a number of tournaments.
01:01:31
So, yeah, it's great to see. Um
01:01:35
something else in the book, um the the
01:01:37
sheep shagger stuff. Have Have you um
01:01:40
So, you've got like a a man cave at
01:01:42
home, like a is it a billion billyard
01:01:44
room? Yeah. Yeah. Um have you got a the
01:01:47
photo there of the sheep shagger photo?
01:01:48
Yeah. I don't know where, you know, we
01:01:50
always had the, you know, someone else
01:01:53
gave Tiger the, you know, the sheep jag
01:01:55
and thing and I always said to don't
01:01:56
knock until you've tried
01:01:58
it. And somehow he managed to get a
01:02:01
photo put together of myself and a
01:02:06
sheep. Um, referring to his comments. I
01:02:09
mean, we have a great laugh, but we had
01:02:11
a great laugh over that. But, you know,
01:02:13
oh, you used to call me you sheep shag
01:02:14
and mother this and you sheep shag and
01:02:16
mother that. And my reply, don't knock
01:02:18
until you
01:02:19
try. God.
01:02:22
Yeah. And he even um at a key moment
01:02:24
during the 2008 US Open um he called you
01:02:27
a sheep shagger. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was
01:02:29
kind of wishing him to
01:02:31
maybe perhaps not continue on the
01:02:34
tournament. I thought it could be
01:02:35
detrimental to his career if he kept
01:02:37
going given the pain that he was in and
01:02:39
the agony and so forth. But that Yeah.
01:02:41
So that sheep shag and explicit came out
01:02:44
there very very loudly and clear.
01:02:48
That's so good. E that's awesome. Um
01:02:50
there's a quote from you in the book. Um
01:02:52
Tiger knew he was in great form and I
01:02:54
felt the only thing that could stop him
01:02:56
from winning was poor catting.
01:02:58
Yeah. So sometimes
01:03:01
um I I I worked out this through time
01:03:05
and keeping all my statistics. It was an
01:03:08
incredible statistic that if Tiger hit
01:03:10
65% of the fairways and didn't three
01:03:13
putt, you couldn't beat him. And all my
01:03:16
records would tell me that uh that I
01:03:19
compiled that that was 100% true. So
01:03:22
sometimes when he was in, you know,
01:03:23
unbelievable sublime form, the only
01:03:26
thing that could prevent him winning
01:03:27
would be would be me, you know, if if
01:03:29
there was some bad club selection, some
01:03:31
bad advice. So even that sometimes put a
01:03:34
an added pressure on because there was a
01:03:36
lot of weeks where you know if you
01:03:39
watched him in the practice rounds and
01:03:40
practice on the practice um there was
01:03:43
just no way that he wasn't going to win
01:03:44
the tournament. And the best example
01:03:45
that was at the 2000 US Open I mean he
01:03:49
he if there was ever a time when you say
01:03:51
you've got a golf ball of string that
01:03:53
was it practice was just absolutely out
01:03:56
of this world. He was hitting every shot
01:03:58
absolutely perfect, hitting it to
01:04:00
exactly how he was trying to do. Uh the
01:04:03
practice rounds was just out of this
01:04:05
world how good he played. And you know,
01:04:07
then it becomes a case of the only thing
01:04:09
can happen here is if I make some bad
01:04:10
mistakes here and so forth. And uh Adam
01:04:13
Scott when he won the Masters in 2013
01:04:16
was exactly the same way. He played his
01:04:18
practice rounds. There were only two
01:04:20
nine-hole practice rounds. Uh, and we
01:04:23
myself and his coach talked him into
01:04:25
only playing nine holes to the fact that
01:04:27
we didn't want him to lose his form. It
01:04:29
was so good. And it's the same thing.
01:04:31
Then you're under pressure yourself
01:04:32
because you're the only one that can
01:04:34
change things here. You know, he's going
01:04:36
to hit the shots. You got to make sure
01:04:37
you give him the right advice and you
01:04:39
got the right club in your hand. So that
01:04:40
adds a different dimension sometimes
01:04:42
when that happens. That's a nauseating
01:04:44
amount of pressure. Oh, look, you know,
01:04:46
there's pressure anyway. when you like
01:04:48
catting for Tiger, his
01:04:50
only a successful week is just a win and
01:04:52
if you don't win and and and you you go
01:04:54
a number of weeks or a long period
01:04:56
without winning and you know we had a
01:04:58
couple of streaks there or periods
01:04:59
during the majors where he didn't win a
01:05:01
major for some time and that and you
01:05:02
know that pressure was getting more and
01:05:04
more every time. So you know catting for
01:05:06
a guy like that is um you know
01:05:08
incredible amount of pressure.
01:05:10
Yes. So there's um a phrase I learned in
01:05:12
the book um it's called a catty's trophy
01:05:14
which is um the flag. So you you win a
01:05:17
tournament and you get to you've got
01:05:19
like a little implement like a little
01:05:20
tool 10 mil spanninner ring spanninner.
01:05:23
So you can't just like rip it off or cut
01:05:25
it off. You need to Yeah. Well, I mean
01:05:27
it it was uh you know you're with a good
01:05:28
golfer if you need to carry that
01:05:29
spanner. Well, that was a bit of a joke
01:05:31
there because quite often when a player
01:05:33
wins a tournament um you you'll read in
01:05:36
a lot of publications what's in the
01:05:38
player's bag from that week and you know
01:05:40
I was the only one that was actually
01:05:42
carrying a 10 mil ring spanner because I
01:05:44
needed it so often. But yeah, a caddy's
01:05:46
trophy. The player gets a trophy and a
01:05:47
caddy's trophy is the flag on the 18th
01:05:50
green which you um take off and that's
01:05:53
your trophy. So um you know I've
01:05:55
collected those from day dot. So you got
01:05:57
so many of these things framed. Um well
01:06:00
I had a I had them all up on the wall
01:06:03
but you know they just kept coming in.
01:06:07
They were coming and coming and coming.
01:06:08
You know I've had 150 wins as a caddy.
01:06:11
So there's no there's no wall big enough
01:06:14
to put them up in. But um more recently,
01:06:16
so I've taken all the major championship
01:06:19
flags and had those um done very nicely
01:06:22
and then all the remaining flags put
01:06:24
into a big binding book.
01:06:27
Um you know, starting back and then just
01:06:29
through the years. Um, yeah. So, I've
01:06:32
put them all into a book, but the ones
01:06:34
the most meaningful ones, um, you know,
01:06:37
when I first started catting, you know,
01:06:39
you you don't know that what you're
01:06:40
going to what's ahead of you as far as
01:06:42
you just hope that one day you might be
01:06:44
able to get to America and one day you
01:06:45
might be able to caddy in the majors.
01:06:46
That's what you're always hoping to do.
01:06:48
Um, and then, you know, time goes on,
01:06:52
you're actually catting in the majors,
01:06:53
then you start winning them and then,
01:06:54
you know, you've won all of them
01:06:55
multiple times. It's, you know, even now
01:06:57
when I'm thinking about it's like, jeez.
01:06:59
I mean that's just unbelievable. Um
01:07:01
there's no other caddies won all four of
01:07:03
them and I've won all four of them
01:07:04
multiple times. Um you know three or
01:07:07
more all of them. Um and yeah so I have
01:07:10
all those flags and and Tigers signed
01:07:13
them all obviously and and and most of
01:07:15
them have a comment written on them uh
01:07:17
about that tournament. Um, so you know,
01:07:20
a lot of fun uh memories to have those
01:07:23
all in one room to look at uh and and
01:07:25
reflect and you know, quite often I'll
01:07:27
just go into that room and on my own and
01:07:29
just sort of turn around and it's um you
01:07:31
know, you look back to a young kid that
01:07:34
started catting at Paumu and just
01:07:36
catting for members of the golf course
01:07:38
which I absolutely cherish for, you
01:07:39
know, 50 cents a round and became $2
01:07:41
around and I sort of had a knack for it
01:07:43
and then there some guys might pay me $5
01:07:45
and the other caddies were getting $2
01:07:47
and then there was a guy that offered me
01:07:48
to pay me $20 and the other caddies are
01:07:50
still getting two and this cing this
01:07:52
cadding is fun. And then you know you
01:07:54
look back then um you know to to go on
01:07:57
to do uh to caddy on the tour. Yeah. One
01:08:01
of these um one of these flags on these
01:08:03
Caddy's trophies is signed to Stevie.
01:08:06
Thank you for your friendship. Love
01:08:08
always Tiger Woods. Um yeah. How do you
01:08:11
like when you when you look at that now?
01:08:12
If you're in that room and you look at
01:08:13
that now and you read that message like
01:08:15
how how does it make you feel now? Oh
01:08:16
yeah. Like I mean amazingly, you know,
01:08:19
one thing when these notes started going
01:08:23
back and forth between Tiger, you know,
01:08:25
I just sign off as cheers Steve or have
01:08:27
a good night Steve or he always put love
01:08:29
on it. And uh you know, I found that
01:08:30
quite interesting between two two guys.
01:08:32
But um we look we had a unique bond. I I
01:08:36
know that he had the utmost respect for
01:08:38
what I was doing and and I had the
01:08:40
utmost respect what he was doing. And
01:08:42
yeah, when I step into the room and and
01:08:44
look at some of those notes, um it's
01:08:46
very, you know, it's very meaningful.
01:08:47
And look, as I've alluded to earlier,
01:08:51
when players and caddies fall out,
01:08:53
particularly players at that level, you
01:08:54
just go your own way. That's just what
01:08:56
it is. I mean, it's like a transaction
01:08:59
in a way. Yeah. I mean, it's like you
01:09:01
look at rugby coaches, you know, that
01:09:02
they coach teams and that and then they
01:09:04
go and they have nothing to do. That's
01:09:05
just it's just it's not anything
01:09:06
personal. It's just what happens. Um,
01:09:10
and you know, I I kept the relationship
01:09:14
between Tiger and I, particularly on the
01:09:16
golf course, as business-like as it
01:09:17
could be. And and I spent, you know, I
01:09:20
spent a great time, a lot of time off
01:09:22
the course with him in buildups to major
01:09:24
championships. But, you know, I I
01:09:26
resisted all the time when like Tiger
01:09:28
would constantly ask uh my wife and I to
01:09:30
come out to dinner with him and we'd
01:09:32
always have other plans cuz I didn't
01:09:34
want to get too friendly with the guy
01:09:35
because I wanted to make it, you know, I
01:09:38
made that mistake with Greg. I got too
01:09:40
friendly with him. But when you make it
01:09:42
a work, a work proposition every day and
01:09:44
that you're going to be more committed
01:09:45
to what you do. And if you get a little
01:09:47
bit friendly and become too matey, um
01:09:50
you won't have the same, you know,
01:09:52
drive. I don't believe.
01:09:54
But you sort of did end up falling in
01:09:56
the same trap as what you did with Greg
01:09:58
like Yeah. In the book you sort of talk
01:09:59
about that. So you and Greg Norman hit,
01:10:01
you know, they sort of crossed this line
01:10:02
and became like really good friends and
01:10:04
then the same thing did end up happening
01:10:05
with with Tiger.
01:10:07
Um yes. So like like messages like that
01:10:10
on the
01:10:11
flags. I don't know. I suppose you can
01:10:13
look back now like enough times passed
01:10:14
and feel like a sense of pride with it
01:10:16
or whatever. But there must have been a
01:10:18
period of time there where it felt
01:10:19
bittersweet or something or you know
01:10:22
look amazingly you would think that Dom
01:10:24
and everybody would think that but just
01:10:27
having you know ci picked up tiger's bag
01:10:32
um you
01:10:33
know there's no time frame or no
01:10:36
definite time frame when you cry for
01:10:38
somebody and you know when you split um
01:10:41
that's the way it is. So no, there was
01:10:42
there was never any of that thought um
01:10:44
which probably a lot of people would
01:10:46
find surprising and that you know it was
01:10:47
surprising that we did split and there
01:10:49
was a little bit of you maybe two or
01:10:51
three weeks where oh you know I didn't
01:10:53
see that coming. Um but no that's just
01:10:55
that's the relationship between a player
01:10:57
and a golfer that's just sorry a player
01:10:59
and a caddy that's the way it is. Maybe
01:11:01
I'm just too sentimental. I'd still want
01:11:03
a birthday card from time to time or
01:11:06
just how you doing just checking in text
01:11:08
once in a while. Yeah. What about other
01:11:10
memorabilia? So, you've got like um uh a
01:11:13
a Quantis red bag from Greg Norman, some
01:11:17
signed bank notes from Jack Nicholas.
01:11:18
Yeah, just Oh, little tippets here and
01:11:20
there. You know, each player that I've
01:11:22
key for um I've kept one of their bags
01:11:24
and it's always uh from a winning
01:11:26
tournament and just, you know, got a bag
01:11:28
from Greg and Ray Floyd and a couple of
01:11:31
bags from Tiger
01:11:33
um and a bag there from Adam and that.
01:11:36
So yeah, just a a good showpiece in in
01:11:39
the memorabilia room and um yeah, some
01:11:42
they had a when Jack played his last
01:11:44
round or last time he was going to
01:11:46
compete at St. Andrews, the Royal Bank
01:11:48
of Scotland had a commemorative£5 note
01:11:50
which I make sure I get my hands on a
01:11:52
few of those and um you know was
01:11:54
fortunate enough to know Jack well
01:11:56
enough to get him to sign one of those.
01:11:57
So um I hope I never get to the point
01:12:00
where I need to spend that £5.
01:12:04
Yeah. Well, what's he like? The Golden
01:12:06
Bear. Yeah. Oh, look, he you know, he he
01:12:08
he was like, you know, when you compare,
01:12:10
you know, as I mentioned before, you got
01:12:12
Arnold and Jack and Tiger and Phil.
01:12:13
That's probably, you know, the good
01:12:15
analysis of comparison, but um and Jack
01:12:17
was a hugely serious competitor just
01:12:20
like Tiger was. But, um an incredible
01:12:23
wealth of knowledge and um you know, I
01:12:25
was fortunate enough to when I was
01:12:27
caring for Greg, Greg played a lot of
01:12:30
practice rounds with Jack and and that
01:12:31
was who he looked up to. So, you know, I
01:12:33
was never afraid to quiz. Um, I think a
01:12:36
lot of these guys always had a a little
01:12:38
bit of respect me cuz I'm a kid from New
01:12:40
Zealand and I I never had any problem
01:12:43
quizzing these guys. Didn't matter who
01:12:44
they were. If I if there's some
01:12:46
knowledge or question I want to ask
01:12:47
these guys, I was never shy about asking
01:12:49
it. So, um, that was always a good
01:12:51
thing. Yeah. But he he was great. Had
01:12:53
quite a bit to do with him. He was a
01:12:55
fantastic player. My brother actually
01:12:56
got to caddy from him a couple of times
01:12:58
in Australia as well. So, that was fun.
01:13:00
A little bit of a connection there as
01:13:01
well. Unreal. So, so all this who who
01:13:04
gets to go into the memorabilia room?
01:13:06
Oh, not too many people. It's my That's
01:13:08
my man cave. And yeah, when we get a few
01:13:11
different guests come over that um I
01:13:14
guess couple of beers for a look. Yeah,
01:13:18
there's a pool table and that. Yeah,
01:13:19
it's a it's a Yeah, it's a funny thing,
01:13:22
you know. It's a very reflective kind of
01:13:24
room and um you know like in years as
01:13:27
every year goes by it's probably get a
01:13:29
you know a little bit more teary eyed I
01:13:31
guess. Yeah. Are you quite an emotional
01:13:33
guy? I feel like you you would never
01:13:35
have been an emotional guy. No certainly
01:13:37
wasn't when I was cing but uh when it's
01:13:39
all been said and done and you you know
01:13:42
time to reflect on is is huge. You know
01:13:44
like I said I was always it's next week
01:13:46
next week next week. You know Tiger won
01:13:49
the US Open in 2000 there by 15 shots.
01:13:51
one of the greatest ever performances.
01:13:53
Uh when you came out of the recording
01:13:55
room, the first thing he quizzed me
01:13:57
about was the um what was the story
01:14:00
about, you know, the the last hole there
01:14:01
with the one golf ball left. You know,
01:14:03
we had a great joke about that. The
01:14:05
second thing he said to me, Dom, uh I'm
01:14:07
going to play even better at St.
01:14:08
Andrews. That was the next tournament
01:14:09
he's playing was the open championship.
01:14:11
I'm going to play even ever I'm going to
01:14:13
play even better than I did this week,
01:14:14
Steve. I need you to get over there and
01:14:16
know every inch every blade of grass in
01:14:19
that golf course. So instead of coming
01:14:21
off the 18th green a and I had a couple
01:14:24
of mates there and I was returning back
01:14:25
to New Zealand. Um instead of having
01:14:28
this triumphant um victory and a
01:14:30
celebration to go with it, you know, now
01:14:31
I'm under the pump now cuz he's just
01:14:34
told me he's going to play even better
01:14:35
and I know he's going to practice and he
01:14:37
wants to win that tournament to you know
01:14:38
cuz he he's you know got his eyes on
01:14:40
this grand slam thing. Um so there's no,
01:14:43
you know, there's no relaxation. you
01:14:45
know, I came back to New Zealand for a
01:14:46
couple of weeks and and I'm just re, you
01:14:48
know, going over the course day and
01:14:50
night in my sleep thinking about the
01:14:51
course and how he's going to play the I
01:14:53
mean, so it was just relentless amount
01:14:55
of pressure.
01:14:57
I feel like you thrived on it though as
01:14:59
well as as well as what he did. Yeah.
01:15:01
You know, so you sort of like completely
01:15:02
bought into his vision or maybe you were
01:15:04
built the same way. So you weren't like,
01:15:05
"Fuck man, just give me a break. Let's
01:15:06
have some champagne and enjoy this
01:15:08
moment." You were like dialed in as
01:15:10
well. Correct. Yeah. And and look, you
01:15:12
know, I I I know admittedly I've said
01:15:13
this to my wife and that, you know, you
01:15:15
know, I probably as a husband and as a
01:15:17
father, I probably faltered there for a
01:15:19
little bit because I I brought into this
01:15:21
picture um of Tiger winning, you know,
01:15:24
19 possibly more major championships.
01:15:26
And I had that that was what kept me
01:15:28
going. I had that that moment. I could I
01:15:31
could see that moment in my head, if you
01:15:32
know what I mean. And then when that p
01:15:34
when that picture got smashed, um it was
01:15:38
hard to carry on. Um but yeah, so
01:15:43
your your um your other passion uh
01:15:44
Speedway. So there was this accident in
01:15:46
January 2005 where you um broke ribs um
01:15:49
and had a a hand hand injury that was so
01:15:52
severe there was like bones sticking
01:15:53
out. Um now you don't have to be a golf
01:15:56
expert to know that a hand is fairly
01:15:58
important for a caddy. Um, do when
01:16:01
something like that happens, like do you
01:16:03
sort of get told off by Tiger's
01:16:04
management or anything? Like Steve,
01:16:06
maybe you should watch what you're doing
01:16:07
in your downtime or No. Tiger Tiger
01:16:10
thought it was great that I was an
01:16:11
adrenaline junkie and he even the so the
01:16:13
story behind that that was on a Saturday
01:16:15
night at Bay Park Speedway. He was
01:16:17
playing the next week in Hawaii and the
01:16:21
first thing that the surgeon told me
01:16:25
um following I had to have my um finger
01:16:29
sewn back on. I I del gloved my finger
01:16:31
and I had to have my finger sewn back
01:16:32
on. Um and when I was left the hospital,
01:16:35
these two things you can't do. One is
01:16:37
fly into a swim with your broken ribs. I
01:16:40
didn't say a word, but that was um on
01:16:42
Saturday night, released from hospital
01:16:44
Sunday morning. Monday morning I'm on a
01:16:46
flight to Hawaii and the first thing I
01:16:48
did went to Hawaii I went for a
01:16:50
swim and you know what I felt much
01:16:52
better for it and when I told Tiger he
01:16:55
just said you're just
01:16:57
unbelievable you're a savage the salt
01:17:00
water would have been good for it you'd
01:17:01
think abs well no it was the rib the rib
01:17:03
thing and and oddly enough um after
01:17:06
swimming I thought the ribs felt better
01:17:08
than they did so so much for the
01:17:09
doctor's advice so then um yeah April
01:17:12
2006 there's a great story in book um
01:17:15
Tiger Catti for you the morning of your
01:17:18
wedding. So bunch of boys went out for a
01:17:21
pre-wedding um round of golf and um he
01:17:23
he cied for you. How was he as a caddy?
01:17:25
Is he all right? Oh no. Yeah, we that
01:17:29
was um that was fantastic like you know
01:17:31
to have Tiger in my home club Southhead
01:17:33
Golf Club and u you know we kept it as
01:17:35
quiet as we can and um to have him you
01:17:38
know my mates out there playing and he's
01:17:39
carrying the bag and winding them all up
01:17:41
was pretty good fun.
01:17:43
Yeah, that must have been a like a huge
01:17:45
like buzz, you know, for you to do for
01:17:47
your mates that were there. Yeah. Oh,
01:17:49
yeah. Yeah. We by the time we came back
01:17:51
round to the clubhouse, there's a hole
01:17:52
by the clubhouse. Um, and there's, you
01:17:55
know, a number of people had cottoned on
01:17:57
the Tiger Woods was out on the golf
01:17:59
course. So, um, people were very good.
01:18:01
They did they did they respected what
01:18:02
was going on, but there was a number of
01:18:04
people gathered around the clubhouse and
01:18:05
there's a whole the 12th hole tea off
01:18:07
right by the clubhouse. And, you know,
01:18:10
not people, you know, Tiger have a hit.
01:18:11
Tiger had a Tiger have a hit. So he
01:18:13
pulls out a club. It was a 3-wood and
01:18:16
it's a par four. It's about 300 m and
01:18:18
just knocked straight on the green. No
01:18:20
practice swing, no nothing. And he
01:18:21
turned around and said, "Is that good
01:18:22
enough?" It was a classic Tiger moment.
01:18:26
Yeah. Cuz he he um he sort of encouraged
01:18:29
you to propose to your wife. Yeah. Yeah.
01:18:32
He Well, wasn't that I wasn't going to
01:18:35
propose to her, but um I guess he he
01:18:37
thought it was, you know, I don't know.
01:18:39
It's a funny story. He he sort of
01:18:41
thought he needed me to make that leap
01:18:43
first before he could make it. I I found
01:18:45
that quite strange, but that's how it
01:18:47
was. And then and then he then he
01:18:49
roasted you for a redneck proposal.
01:18:52
Yeah. I mean, I guess that uh that was
01:18:55
pretty redneck, as he would call it. I I
01:18:57
I put the proposal on my race car and
01:19:00
drove and taped it to my race car in a
01:19:03
in a in a warm-up uh at one of the
01:19:06
speedways in that. Yeah. So you you
01:19:08
could probably think that's pretty
01:19:09
redneck. Yeah. Oh, and I love that. And
01:19:11
you you watched um Yeah. There's
01:19:13
something in the book which um kind of
01:19:14
gave me goosebumps. You guys you got him
01:19:16
into rugby. You got him watching a bit
01:19:17
of rugby together. Um he was a fan of
01:19:20
this is when Tana was leading the All
01:19:22
Blacks. He was a big Tana fan. Yeah. So
01:19:24
when the every year we were at the Open
01:19:26
Championship, the All Blacks would be
01:19:28
contesting the tri series. Um so every
01:19:31
Saturday morning um Sunday morning, the
01:19:35
All Blacks would be on TV. Um, so I was
01:19:38
always says, "Tiger, I said, you know,
01:19:39
Tiger, you got to play good this week.
01:19:41
The All Blacks are on TV at 9:00 in the
01:19:43
morning that and I want need to watch
01:19:44
the whole match. So, you need to play
01:19:45
good." So, there's always a bit of
01:19:46
banter that and he loved watching that
01:19:48
hacker. Um, you know, Tiger got to the
01:19:51
week after my wedding, we had a
01:19:52
celebrity stock car race and I had some
01:19:54
celebrities and motorsport people
01:19:56
driving stock cars and which Tiger was
01:19:58
involved and Tana was there. So Tiger
01:20:00
got to meet Tana was a huge thing and uh
01:20:03
you know Tana gave him a signed all
01:20:04
black jump and Tiger thought that was
01:20:06
pretty cool and he's got that up in his
01:20:07
house. So um but yeah know he he
01:20:10
absolutely admired watching that
01:20:12
harker and you know he enjoyed and he
01:20:14
enjoyed watching the game and he you
01:20:16
know we'd sit there and he'd explain a
01:20:19
little bit about it then he you know he
01:20:20
loved it. Yeah you cuz you were quite a
01:20:23
handy player before you discovered golf
01:20:24
and caddying. Yeah, I mean I was
01:20:26
fortunate enough to I played for New
01:20:28
Zealand school boys and um I played in a
01:20:30
test match or sorry as a curtain a
01:20:32
curtain razor to a curtain raiser at
01:20:34
Athletic Park for New Zealand school
01:20:36
boys when the British Lions played and
01:20:38
uh all the boys that played in that
01:20:40
game, the New Zealand team were allowed
01:20:42
into the locker rooms afterwards and I
01:20:44
managed to get uh a pair of socks from
01:20:46
one JPR Williams, the Lion sock. So
01:20:50
pretty special moment but yeah, no I I
01:20:52
loved rugby like any kid growing up. I
01:20:53
think any kid growing up here, I mean,
01:20:55
it was um you know, rugby and stock cars
01:20:57
were the things I loved here. Not it
01:20:59
wasn't really golf, but then um started
01:21:02
catting and yeah, the the rest is
01:21:04
history.
01:21:06
Um yeah, the book together we roared. Um
01:21:09
as I was getting towards the end of the
01:21:11
book, I thought, oh, they're not going
01:21:12
to talk about they're not going to talk
01:21:13
about the scandal, the infidelity, and
01:21:15
stuff like that. But sure enough, that
01:21:16
is that is addressed um and it's
01:21:18
addressed respectfully and um with, you
01:21:20
know, your side of events, which I think
01:21:22
is really cool. and something which
01:21:24
surprised me. So that happens. Then
01:21:26
there's a period of time where Tiger's
01:21:28
not playing and you're sort of, you
01:21:29
know, apart and there's sort of email
01:21:31
correspondence a little bit. Um then
01:21:33
when you finally connect, um you you
01:21:35
sort of dress him down and give him a
01:21:37
piece of your mind. Yeah, I thought that
01:21:39
was important to do so and and um you
01:21:42
know, I wasn't really sure how I was
01:21:44
going to go about that. And um I
01:21:47
actually talked to Lori Mains a little
01:21:49
bit uh someone who I had great faith in
01:21:52
to give me some good advice and he told
01:21:54
me how I should go about that. And you
01:21:56
know I think there's a certain number of
01:21:58
things need to be addressed. We don't
01:21:59
need to go into it, but there was a
01:22:00
certain number of things to be addressed
01:22:01
and how to go about it and I did that
01:22:03
and um yeah, it was just never quite the
01:22:06
same returning uh after, you know,
01:22:08
Tiger's time away from the game in that
01:22:10
period and that. But um yeah, look that
01:22:12
it's just it's just part of it. Were you
01:22:15
were you nervous? Like um I've just
01:22:18
finished reading the um or listening to
01:22:19
the Ivan Clearary audio book and um he's
01:22:22
got a saying like hard conversations
01:22:23
don't have to be hard conversations, but
01:22:25
the reality is often they are like you
01:22:28
you know it's a there's a definite power
01:22:30
imbalance between the caddy and the
01:22:31
golfer. You were you [ __ ] yourself
01:22:33
before that conversation? There's not a
01:22:34
hard conversation that the difficulty in
01:22:37
a conversation like that is how the
01:22:39
other person's going to perceive it and
01:22:41
are they going to override you? Are they
01:22:43
going to hear you out? you know, so you
01:22:45
when you have a conversation like that,
01:22:46
you've got a number of things that you
01:22:47
want to address and you want to get all
01:22:50
those points across the table, but
01:22:52
sometimes that doesn't happen because
01:22:54
the other person goes in a completely
01:22:56
different tangent and takes your mind
01:22:57
away from what you were trying to
01:22:58
achieve. Uh, fortunately, Tiger, he he
01:23:01
he listened to everything I had to say
01:23:02
and and we sorted our situation right
01:23:04
there and then. Um, and that was on the
01:23:06
way to his first tournament back. I we
01:23:09
were on the plane uh heading to Augusta
01:23:11
for his first tournament back. Um, and I
01:23:15
knew straight away, uh, when I got on
01:23:19
the golf course that it just wasn't the
01:23:20
same. Um, that I guess, like I've
01:23:23
mentioned, that picture had been
01:23:25
shattered and I was seeing it through a
01:23:28
different lens and it just wasn't the
01:23:29
same. And I knew I didn't know how long
01:23:33
it was going to last, but I knew it
01:23:34
wasn't going to last forever at that
01:23:36
point. Um, that's just what it is.
01:23:38
though. But from your perspective, I
01:23:40
feel like that conversation was a very
01:23:42
important um thing to get off your chest
01:23:44
because that time was like very
01:23:46
difficult for you. There were like all
01:23:48
sorts of accusations of like guilt by
01:23:50
association. Um yeah, you talk about the
01:23:53
New Zealand media having a go at you in
01:23:55
the in the the book. Yeah, it was a a
01:23:57
bloody It sounds like it was a
01:23:58
challenging time. Oh, 100%. I mean, and
01:24:01
and and I concur 100%. If anybody is
01:24:05
with somebody as much as as I was with
01:24:08
Tiger, you would actually think that I'd
01:24:11
have some knowledge of what was going
01:24:12
on, but he knows how hard aheaded and
01:24:15
how um sort of stubborn I am and how my
01:24:19
morals are that I just wouldn't allow
01:24:22
something like that to happen. Um and
01:24:24
that's exactly what it was. And yeah, it
01:24:26
was important for me to get my message
01:24:27
across. I did. Uh and he respected that
01:24:30
100%. um you know that one of the great
01:24:33
things about our bond and what made it
01:24:35
so special is when you when someone like
01:24:37
Tiger Woods you know he he he's looked
01:24:39
upon as you know sort of a superstar but
01:24:42
like to me they're just he's just
01:24:43
another person I'm cing for and I don't
01:24:47
I'm not a yes man and a lot of these
01:24:49
guys that are sportsman everyone just
01:24:51
bows down to them and they're just yes
01:24:53
man yes sir yes sir that's not me you
01:24:55
know I tell it like it is I do it like
01:24:58
it needs to be done and I don't sugar
01:25:00
coat anything. So, he had the utmost
01:25:02
respect for that.
01:25:05
Yeah. So, so that incident, it sounds
01:25:07
like it was um sort of just a just a a
01:25:09
one-sided dressing down, like not even
01:25:11
an argument. And um yeah, for Tiger,
01:25:13
that was probably at the end of a fairly
01:25:15
challenging few months where it felt
01:25:16
like the whole world was having a having
01:25:18
a crack at him. Um yeah. Did So, did
01:25:21
like with that in mind, like did you
01:25:22
feel a little bit guilty afterwards or
01:25:24
Oh, no. No. This is something, you know,
01:25:26
I talked to Lori Mains about it. when
01:25:27
would the time be right and and how
01:25:29
would I go about it and this sort of
01:25:30
thing and and taking that all in
01:25:31
consideration. Um but you know uh it
01:25:34
needed to be done before I stepped back
01:25:36
onto the golf course. So that I chose
01:25:38
the moment and and proceeded. Yeah. What
01:25:41
what about um like previous arguments
01:25:43
style with you two because you don't get
01:25:45
to have like a 10 11 year relationship
01:25:47
with someone without some sort of
01:25:48
adversity. like um did would you guys
01:25:51
get things out in the open and then just
01:25:53
like park it and move on or was it a
01:25:55
silent treatment thing or you get it out
01:25:58
there? I had I'd only ever addressed
01:26:00
Tiger Down once before. We were on the
01:26:03
we're on the golf course at Augusta and
01:26:06
we had a bit of an argument on the third
01:26:07
TE. I'd been out in the morning and
01:26:09
scouted the golf course. So on the third
01:26:11
TE it's a par4 and sometimes they move
01:26:13
the tea up on Sunday which makes it
01:26:15
possible to drive it on the green. Uh I
01:26:17
was out Sunday morning and and and and
01:26:19
noted that there's a few holes where you
01:26:21
want to know where the tee is so that
01:26:23
you can tell the player a couple of par
01:26:24
three T's. You want to tell them is it
01:26:26
on the front front tee or the back tee
01:26:28
so they can have a shot. You can tell
01:26:30
them because you can go out there,
01:26:31
you've got the pin placement, you know
01:26:32
exactly how far the shot is. And you can
01:26:34
tell the guy, okay, uh the fourth hole
01:26:36
is one of those holes, you know, how far
01:26:37
the fourth hole is playing today, how
01:26:38
far the 12th hole is playing today,
01:26:40
where the tea is, and so they can hit
01:26:42
those shots on the range and practice.
01:26:44
Uh, so the third TE was moved up and um
01:26:46
I told Tiger that in the range and there
01:26:48
was no conversation about it on the
01:26:49
range. I just said, "Hey, they moved the
01:26:51
tea up in three today. You can knock it
01:26:52
on the green." And we got there and uh
01:26:55
he didn't want to hit driver and I just,
01:26:57
you know, he was at the time he was, I
01:26:59
think, four shots back and it was, you
01:27:01
know, he needed to hit driver. You can
01:27:02
get it on the green. I didn't see why he
01:27:03
didn't want to. It was an easy shot, big
01:27:05
wide fairway. I mean, nothing, you know,
01:27:08
that's if you if you don't hit a good
01:27:09
shot, you end up left and okay, every
01:27:12
player took driver that day and he
01:27:13
didn't want to. And anyway, he ended up
01:27:14
taking driver cuz I coached him into it
01:27:16
and he hit a terrible shot. Absolute
01:27:18
[ __ ] shot over into the right trees made
01:27:20
bogey and basically that was the end of
01:27:22
the tournament and he was bitter and he
01:27:25
was carrying on carrying on carrying on
01:27:27
and he was sulking away and carrying on
01:27:29
and you
01:27:30
know reading me the ride at then we got
01:27:33
up the ninth hole. It's a big wide
01:27:34
fairway, so I didn't think anything
01:27:37
about possibly anyone hearing what I was
01:27:40
having to say, but amazingly one media
01:27:42
person did. But I dress them down and
01:27:44
and like gave him an absolute earful. Um
01:27:48
a and you do so knowing that if he takes
01:27:51
it the wrong way, he might fire you
01:27:52
after the round. But it needed to be
01:27:53
said and I did. And uh after the round,
01:27:56
he said, "Hey, thanks very much for
01:27:58
that. I deserve that." And it was good.
01:28:00
But once again, and and but one meaty
01:28:02
guy for some I don't know how he heard
01:28:05
me. I mean, I must have been louder than
01:28:06
I thought because I gave him a good
01:28:07
bollocking. Um and then of course, you
01:28:10
know, the next the very following day,
01:28:11
oh, you know, the the relationship
01:28:13
between Steve and Tiger's nearly over
01:28:15
this, that, and the other. It's like,
01:28:16
oh, here we go.
01:28:18
Sometimes a rigorous debate debate is
01:28:19
healthy and it can't be taken out of
01:28:21
context. Yeah. Yeah. But um he he truly
01:28:23
respected that and and and that's what
01:28:25
one of the things why we got on so good
01:28:27
because nobody else in his organization
01:28:28
would do that. He's tiger, which I'm not
01:28:30
going, you know, they the people just
01:28:31
don't do that.
01:28:33
Yeah. And I I don't know if you
01:28:35
necessarily appreciate the amount of
01:28:37
courage it has to have these difficult
01:28:39
conversations, you know, with with
01:28:41
someone like Tiger that's um surrounded
01:28:43
by by Yesmen. You are older than him,
01:28:45
but not not like older older like you.
01:28:47
You're not like old enough to be his dad
01:28:49
or anything. You're slightly older, I
01:28:50
guess.
01:28:51
Um yeah. Where did that cat come from?
01:28:54
that sort of I don't know that moral
01:28:56
compass or just that that sense of you
01:28:59
doing what's right and saying saying
01:29:00
what needs to be said regardless of the
01:29:02
consequences. Tell it like it is. I mean
01:29:03
that's just you know you learn that in
01:29:04
school. You it's a school of hard
01:29:06
knocks. You just tell it like it is. I
01:29:07
mean that's just um I I guess if I had
01:29:11
to put my finger on it um you when I was
01:29:13
cing for Greg he, you know, he he was
01:29:15
always upfront and just told it like it
01:29:17
is. I mean he was he was very
01:29:20
controversial throughout his whole
01:29:21
career but he just told it like it is.
01:29:22
And you know, I guess I probably learned
01:29:24
from that. You just tell it like it is.
01:29:25
And I didn't, you know, walking up that
01:29:27
ninth hole, I I said to myself, you
01:29:29
know, this might be the last time I g a
01:29:30
gusta, but this guy needs to be told he
01:29:32
needs to be put in his place. And I did
01:29:33
it.
01:29:35
It's so awesome. That's so God, you must
01:29:38
be proud of that. Oh yeah. And that that
01:29:40
you know that makes your bond even
01:29:42
greater because you know, Tiger knows at
01:29:45
the time that I was right. He needed to
01:29:46
hit driver on that hole. if he was going
01:29:48
to win the tournament that Sunday, he
01:29:49
needed to possibly try and knock it on
01:29:51
the green there and make three or four.
01:29:52
You know, I mean, he hit a [ __ ] shot.
01:29:53
You can't blame me for hitting a [ __ ]
01:29:55
shot. It was a terrible shot. Um, and if
01:29:57
he was going to win the tournament, he
01:29:58
he knows at the end of the day when he
01:30:00
thinks back, you know, there was no
01:30:02
reason not to hit a driver. Um, and I
01:30:06
was right and he he deserved a good
01:30:07
bollockin because he carried on like a
01:30:09
spare chop, a pork chop for, you know,
01:30:11
six or seven holes.
01:30:13
So, um the um the firing um comes sort
01:30:17
of after that. Um we talked about that
01:30:18
in the podcast last year. So, Tiger was
01:30:21
out injured. Uh you asked him if you
01:30:23
could um caddy for this guy Adam Scott.
01:30:25
Uh Tiger said yes and then he changed
01:30:27
his mind. Um something I didn't realize
01:30:29
until I read the book. So, your wife
01:30:30
Kirsty, she she told you she thought
01:30:33
that was a bad idea. It would end badly.
01:30:35
Yeah. So, um look, if I if I had have
01:30:38
ever changed one thing in my whole
01:30:39
canning career, that would be it. I
01:30:41
should have listened to Kirsty then. I
01:30:42
mean, yeah. I just Or always should
01:30:46
always listen to the wife. Yeah. Yeah.
01:30:47
Oh, look. I just, you know, I didn't uh
01:30:50
I hadn't caddy for a while and
01:30:53
um there was some uncertainty whether
01:30:55
Tiger was going to play um at the 2011
01:31:00
uh US Open. And I'd I left here on the
01:31:04
Saturday under the intention that he was
01:31:06
playing in the tournament and I took my
01:31:08
father-in-law and another friend with
01:31:09
me. And so we'd flown to the west coast
01:31:12
to Los Angeles and upon arriving there I
01:31:14
find out he's not playing in the
01:31:15
tournament. Um
01:31:19
and within an hour or so uh I got a call
01:31:22
from Adam Scott and said could you come
01:31:24
car for me? So I ran it by Tiger said
01:31:26
yeah no problem. So we carried on to
01:31:28
Washington DC and then the next thing I
01:31:30
get a message from Tiger's manager
01:31:31
saying Tiger would rather you not cry in
01:31:33
the in the US Open for Adam. Um and and
01:31:37
when I look back I understand why at the
01:31:38
time I didn't give it enough thought but
01:31:40
you know I'm a sort of loyal sort of
01:31:42
bloke and I told him yes and I didn't
01:31:43
you know Mark sort of said well you know
01:31:46
might mark the end of the road for you
01:31:47
and at the time I thought well you know
01:31:49
why would it mark the end of the road
01:31:51
I'm just going to go and caddy for a guy
01:31:52
for a week I'm already here I brought my
01:31:53
father-in-law and a friend over to watch
01:31:55
the tournament it's going to be a bit
01:31:57
funny to go to the tournament and not be
01:31:58
cattying in it you know and they're
01:31:59
coming to watch and I'm not going to
01:32:01
walk around and my wife said no if a
01:32:03
tiger doesn't want you to caddy you
01:32:04
shouldn't c and I should have listened
01:32:06
to it because, you know, arguably I'd
01:32:08
probably still be crying from to this
01:32:09
day. But, um, yeah, it was just at the
01:32:12
time I made the wrong decision and and
01:32:14
and that's that's where it all unfolded.
01:32:16
So, um, that's just way it is.
01:32:21
Yeah. With the reflection of time, like,
01:32:23
do you think if it wasn't then it would
01:32:24
have been it would have been something
01:32:26
shortly after or Oh, look, I I I knew
01:32:29
when I first went back to the first
01:32:30
tournament that that I just didn't have
01:32:32
the same feeling about it. Um and and
01:32:36
who knows how long it was going to last,
01:32:37
but um yeah. Hey, look, you know, it
01:32:41
happened then and that's the way I just
01:32:44
didn't see that coming. But yeah, you
01:32:47
was that a confusing period for you
01:32:49
after that? Like just being being so
01:32:50
must be weird like just being so close
01:32:52
with someone and then it's like a steep
01:32:53
drop off a cliff. Yeah. Yeah. I mean it
01:32:55
was Yeah, it was. But then, you know, I
01:32:57
straight onto the bag of Adam Scott and
01:32:59
and then um you know, so you you you you
01:33:03
turn your focus from one player and then
01:33:05
it was it was Adam was a guy that I had
01:33:07
great respect for and often wondered why
01:33:09
he didn't compete more better or play
01:33:12
better in the major championship. So
01:33:14
that became a new goal. So straight
01:33:15
away, you know, that the goal of the the
01:33:18
the the dream or the goal of trying to
01:33:20
eclipse Jack's record of 18 majors,
01:33:22
catting for Tiger, now it was a complete
01:33:25
new goal is, okay, I'm Cing Van Scott.
01:33:27
He's never won a major. How can we get
01:33:29
together and win a major championship?
01:33:31
So, that was a uh a real energizer and
01:33:34
and provided great uh motivation and
01:33:37
desire to try and get him over the line
01:33:39
in a major championship. So that was a
01:33:41
really um you know really great period
01:33:44
in my career cing for Adam. Yeah. And
01:33:47
yeah you were bursting with pride
01:33:49
whenever I did well too. E like yeah
01:33:52
it's it's hard to explain but maybe it's
01:33:54
um like an Australasian thing or Well
01:33:56
yeah no no no Australians won Augusta
01:34:00
and I'd go for Greg and Greg just that's
01:34:04
all he wanted to do was adorn that green
01:34:06
jacket. He just that's the tournament
01:34:08
that meant the most to him. That's the
01:34:09
one he wanted to win. and and and it
01:34:11
eluded him. Uh and to be on the bag for
01:34:14
the first Australian and to this point
01:34:16
the only Australian uh to put on that
01:34:18
green jacket. Um you know look
01:34:22
Australian New Zealanders we're all
01:34:23
together. You know we're down under
01:34:25
Australasians Oceanana what however you
01:34:28
want to describe us. Um that was just a
01:34:30
you know a huge amount of pride to be
01:34:32
catting for the first Australian or the
01:34:34
first person from Australasia to put
01:34:36
that green jacket on. Um it was it was
01:34:39
uh an incredible amount of um thrill
01:34:42
that was. And it was kind of ironic cuz
01:34:45
the first person that called me, not the
01:34:48
first person, but first person I
01:34:49
actually spoke to when I answered my
01:34:51
phone was Greg.
01:34:54
Yeah. So um that tournament had a like a
01:34:57
little asterisk to it. Yeah. How was it?
01:34:59
How was that for Greg? Yeah. Well, he
01:35:02
bit of sweet. Yeah. No, no, because the
01:35:04
conversation was because, you know, Adam
01:35:07
had that part to win the tournament and
01:35:09
Greg read my lips. So, you know, Adam
01:35:12
said to me, Stevie, what do you think?
01:35:14
Cup out to the right, right to left, put
01:35:16
cup out the right. And and my exact
01:35:18
comment were that's not even [ __ ]
01:35:20
close. It's two and a half cups with a
01:35:22
bit of speed. So, you know, he's read it
01:35:24
this much and and I've read it like
01:35:27
double and a bit more than what he's
01:35:28
read it. and Greg read my lips and um
01:35:32
you know Tiger uh sorry Adam knocked
01:35:35
that putt straight in. Um you know it
01:35:37
was a huge moment because that that's
01:35:38
what makes a good caddy. Most people are
01:35:40
just going to agree it's the Masters.
01:35:42
You you don't want to give guy a bit of
01:35:44
advice. He's got a putt to win the
01:35:45
Masters. You're going to give him some
01:35:46
advice and you're going against what he
01:35:48
says. That's what makes a great caddy. I
01:35:50
if if I'm wrong I'm wrong and it cost
01:35:52
him the Masters. Well, so be it. But I
01:35:54
mean, you know, I'm not going to not
01:35:56
stand there and not give my two cents
01:35:58
worth. and I did. He knocked it in, won
01:36:00
the Masters. So, it was uh Yeah, it was
01:36:02
a m You know, there's some moments
01:36:04
you'll never ever forget. And that
01:36:05
that's certainly one that's right up
01:36:06
there.
01:36:08
Got I can't imagine the anxiety you're
01:36:10
going through when he's lining up that
01:36:11
part after like listening to your
01:36:13
advice. There's really Look, it's funny.
01:36:17
You would think that, Dom, but you know,
01:36:19
whether it's the first hole Thursday or
01:36:21
it's the second half of playoff for the
01:36:23
Masters, you just do your job the same.
01:36:25
You don't take the situation into
01:36:27
account. It doesn't matter if it's if
01:36:29
it's just playing in the New Zealand
01:36:30
Open or it's the US Open, you know,
01:36:32
small tournament, big tournament, middle
01:36:34
of the road tournament. You do
01:36:35
everything the same. The process the
01:36:37
same. You can't let the situation get on
01:36:39
top of you. And that's what I was always
01:36:41
able to do. You know, I didn't think
01:36:44
think about what was ahead, what could
01:36:46
be, what might be in the moment and do
01:36:49
your job the same as you would do, you
01:36:51
know, if I was cing for you or catting
01:36:53
in the proam or cing for anybody. Just
01:36:55
do the job the same. So the moment never
01:36:57
gets a hold of you. Um I've seen so many
01:37:00
player and caddy failures coming down
01:37:02
the stretch because the moment can get
01:37:04
too much but you treat like from the
01:37:07
first hole Thursday to the 72nd hole
01:37:09
Sunday and whatever becomes after that
01:37:11
the same. Um you're not really going to
01:37:13
get um you know you're not going to feel
01:37:17
the pressure. I mean I'm not hitting the
01:37:18
stroke. I'm just giving you the best
01:37:20
available that I can give.
01:37:21
But keeping statistics and notes, I had
01:37:24
a note in my book that that putt. So I
01:37:28
have a little hole drawn where that is
01:37:29
and I've got an arrow which means over
01:37:31
here if you're putting that direction
01:37:33
that putt breaks more than it looks. The
01:37:35
ironic thing is Adam Scott would never
01:37:38
have had that putt because you that's a
01:37:40
pin that you don't challenge on Sunday
01:37:43
at Augusta. If you ask Adam Scott what's
01:37:45
the best golf shot he's ever hit would
01:37:47
be a second shot there and he wanted to
01:37:50
hit a seven iron there and just hit it
01:37:52
20 foot under the hole. Keep it under
01:37:53
the hole where Cabrera hit it and I said
01:37:55
no let's get it back to the hole there.
01:37:57
Let's take what we we we called it a
01:37:59
hold off six is how we describe the
01:38:01
shot. So it's a six iron like a 3/4 six
01:38:03
iron. Uh it's called a holdoff shot. Um
01:38:06
basically what that means is you you you
01:38:08
prevent the ball from going left. You
01:38:10
just you know hold on hard with the left
01:38:12
hand. It's a golf term.
01:38:14
uh and get that ball back there. But I
01:38:16
knew that he would never have had that
01:38:18
part. So I had that note in my book from
01:38:20
the 80s right from caring for Greg and
01:38:22
we're now 2013. That's how long I've had
01:38:24
that, you know, cuz I keep all the notes
01:38:27
and I knew that he wouldn't know that
01:38:29
and and I knew it breaks more than it
01:38:31
looks, you know. So that's keeping notes
01:38:33
and keeping data and keeping every
01:38:35
possible thing. Yeah. Would it be ever
01:38:38
worth releasing these these um like
01:38:40
caddy notes as some sort of a book or
01:38:42
would they not make sense to anyone
01:38:44
else? Oh, it would only make sense to
01:38:46
people that were playing in those
01:38:47
things, but you'd be giving away all
01:38:48
your all your IP all your IP.
01:38:52
Um yes. So 2021 um Tiger had this big
01:38:56
car crash in um California. I think he
01:38:59
was like going from a hotel to a golf
01:39:01
course. Um so you hadn't spoken to him
01:39:04
in like 10 years then. I think you you
01:39:05
bumped into him on a practice range in
01:39:07
2019 and it was a little frosty, a
01:39:09
little icy, a little awkward. So, where
01:39:11
were you in 2021? Were you on the road
01:39:12
with Adam Scott or were you at home? How
01:39:14
did you hear about that car crash? Yeah.
01:39:16
Um, I I was actually in uh I was at my
01:39:19
uh our house in the States at that
01:39:21
particular time and that. So, you know,
01:39:22
it was obviously deep concern because
01:39:24
there was no forthcoming information
01:39:26
straight away as to what his health
01:39:28
predicament was going to be. But um
01:39:30
yeah, I mean look, it's a real sad
01:39:32
moment cuz it's obviously impacted
01:39:34
his possibility of continuing on with
01:39:37
the march to to eclipse Jack's record,
01:39:39
which I hoped he did. Um I just whether
01:39:43
you know up until that accident
01:39:45
happening, I think there was still some
01:39:46
chance and that dream was still alive.
01:39:48
And you know, even though I wasn't on
01:39:50
the bag, I was just so hoping that he
01:39:52
would, you know, so that if he did get
01:39:54
to 19, I could say, well, you know, I
01:39:56
was on I was on the bag for 13 of those
01:39:58
19. Um but um I think that accident you
01:40:02
know obviously had a a big impact on his
01:40:05
on his um future and and his in his
01:40:08
body. So yeah it was sad but hey look uh
01:40:11
when you hear the description of the
01:40:13
accident it probably could have been
01:40:14
worse. So there's always a favorable
01:40:16
side to any outcome and and and um it
01:40:18
was you know from what I read and what I
01:40:20
saw of the pictures it was a pretty
01:40:21
severe accident. It could have been
01:40:23
worse. So yeah. But is it a surreal
01:40:25
feeling for you? here's this here's this
01:40:27
this this guy that you you know you love
01:40:28
and you you care about deeply. Um and I
01:40:31
suppose the instinct is to you know
01:40:33
reach out or send a message or send a
01:40:35
bouquet or whatever it happens to be and
01:40:36
you there's this barrier where you just
01:40:38
can't sort of get to him. Oh, like you
01:40:41
know I can get to him through his
01:40:42
management all the time and that but I
01:40:44
mean you know me and how many other
01:40:45
people can get um so forth but yeah look
01:40:49
I mean you know like whatever happens
01:40:51
like you know Tiger's mother passed away
01:40:53
recently and um you know I shared a
01:40:56
great bond with his his mother. She was
01:40:58
fantastic and um you know deeply
01:41:01
saddened as well. So it's just life and
01:41:04
that's what happens. You're so
01:41:06
philosophical about these things e oh
01:41:08
look yeah it is. I mean, you know, you
01:41:11
you you know, there's there's that
01:41:13
thing, Dom, and you would know very well
01:41:15
when you you know that half the the
01:41:17
glass half full, half empty. You know,
01:41:18
I'm a half full man, just like you are.
01:41:22
Yeah, I love that. Does odd you
01:41:24
mentioned before about Jack's record,
01:41:25
actually, you've mentioned it a couple
01:41:26
of times. Does it does it annoy you that
01:41:28
you and Tiger or even Tiger um didn't
01:41:31
get to it because that was like the big
01:41:32
goal you guys had. I was very clear from
01:41:34
day one. I I I dreamt about it all the
01:41:37
time, Dom, every day. Um, maybe not so
01:41:39
much when I was cing, but every day when
01:41:41
I was home in New Zealand, I I thought
01:41:42
about that every time. I had a clear
01:41:44
picture. I could I could picture it. And
01:41:47
I guess in my in my dreams and in in the
01:41:50
in the vision that I had, I could see it
01:41:52
happening at Augusta. And I I I'd played
01:41:54
it over and over my head. And that's
01:41:56
what motivated me every week, every
01:41:57
month, every year when I was counting
01:41:58
for Tiger is and every time when he
01:42:01
ticked one of those majors off, it was
01:42:03
one step up the ladder to that next one.
01:42:04
And I didn't have any doubt uh that he
01:42:06
was going to do it. and and and uh and I
01:42:08
think the rest of the world thought he
01:42:09
was going to do it and that was what
01:42:10
kept me going. And you know that the
01:42:12
moment that picture in my head was
01:42:14
shattered, it just was never the same.
01:42:16
Mhm. Yeah. It's unlikely to happen now,
01:42:18
isn't it? Oh, you know, it can't happen
01:42:21
now. So, it's and I don't believe
01:42:23
there'll ever be another player that'll
01:42:25
get to the position where we would even
01:42:27
talk about it. Domin, that's just how
01:42:28
special he was. I mean, you know, fast
01:42:31
forward 50 years down the line, you
01:42:33
know, there'll be no player that we'll
01:42:35
be talking about. um that it'll be in
01:42:37
that position to say whether Jack breaks
01:42:39
Jack's record. There's just there won't
01:42:42
be another athlete that come along or
01:42:43
not another golfer that come along that
01:42:45
could be so dominant in the major
01:42:47
championships like he was.
01:42:50
What what about legacy? Um yeah, like
01:42:52
how how do you think Tiger and and
01:42:55
particularly your partnership with Tiger
01:42:56
will go down in history? Oh, look. I
01:42:58
mean, you know, I
01:43:00
mean, however you look at it, you can
01:43:03
look at your partnership, you know, you
01:43:04
can, however you look at it, we won more
01:43:06
tournaments together than anyone in any
01:43:09
other partnership and won more majors in
01:43:10
our partnership. So, that speaks volumes
01:43:13
in itself right there. However you want
01:43:14
to look at it, but you can't take away
01:43:16
the amount of tournaments we won
01:43:17
together and in particular the amount of
01:43:19
majors we won together. Yeah. It was
01:43:21
like two It was like a perfect storm,
01:43:23
eh, like two worlds colliding at the
01:43:24
right time. It was Yeah. One of those
01:43:26
amazing partnerships. Yeah. Not
01:43:28
surprised you get misty eyed when you go
01:43:29
into your your billiards room. It's it's
01:43:32
really cool to reflect on this stuff,
01:43:33
eh? Oh, yeah. Look, um but like you
01:43:36
know, like as I said to you, um you
01:43:38
know, people I often get asked uh in a
01:43:41
in a in a public arena, I'm speaking
01:43:43
whatever, um what's your greatest
01:43:45
moment? And you know, most people are
01:43:47
looking for a story from one of the golf
01:43:48
tournaments. But when I tell them about
01:43:50
my wife and I have been involved with
01:43:51
the Starship Hospital and making that
01:43:53
donation, um, you know, you're very
01:43:56
fortunate to be able to give that money
01:43:57
away. And I've never done catting for
01:44:00
the money. I've never lived for the
01:44:01
money. I, you know, I I don't live
01:44:04
extravagantly. It's never ever been
01:44:05
about the money. It's been about
01:44:07
catting, but uh, and enjoying the job.
01:44:10
But to be able to be fortunate enough to
01:44:11
be able to do something like that and
01:44:13
make a significant impact on other
01:44:15
people's lives, that's the best moment
01:44:17
um my wife and I will ever forget.
01:44:20
Yeah. Yeah. I know you just said it's
01:44:22
it's never about the money. And in the
01:44:24
book you talk about how for Tiger it was
01:44:26
never about the money. Like he'd never
01:44:27
look at the at the the board afterwards
01:44:29
to see how much prize money he got. But
01:44:32
um were you aware of that stuff? So you
01:44:33
were getting 10% of whatever he won. So
01:44:36
if you're going down the 18th fairway on
01:44:38
Sunday and you know he's going to win,
01:44:40
are you thinking he gets a million
01:44:42
dollars so I'm going to get $100,000 I
01:44:44
can buy a new saloon car? It it just
01:44:47
never never ever you know never it was
01:44:51
never from day dot it was never about
01:44:52
the money. I mean it's just you know
01:44:55
money doesn't make you happy. You know
01:44:57
having love and having family make you
01:44:58
happy. Money doesn't mean anything. I
01:45:00
mean it's never meant anything to me and
01:45:01
that's why I've had no problem giving a
01:45:03
lot of it away.
01:45:05
Yeah. Were you you were financially
01:45:07
secure, I guess, before you even met
01:45:08
Tiger. Oh, yeah. I mean, I was
01:45:11
fortunate. You know, Ray Floyd was very
01:45:12
successful. Greg was very successful.
01:45:14
So, yeah. I mean, um, but like I said,
01:45:17
you know, it's never about the money,
01:45:18
but you know, I used to, we used to love
01:45:20
having jokes with Tiger when he'd start
01:45:22
playing badly and that he had this thing
01:45:25
which I've mentioned in the book about
01:45:26
TWW's car wash and he said, "Well, we'll
01:45:28
have TWW's car wash and you'll be the
01:45:30
guy cleaning the car, Steve." and and
01:45:32
you know he he'd get on the 17th hole of
01:45:34
a tournament in three part and I'd say
01:45:36
Jesus Christ Tiger that's a whole brand
01:45:38
new set of tires off me race car you've
01:45:40
just cost me there we you know we'd have
01:45:41
some banter but he didn't do it for the
01:45:43
money and I didn't do it for the money
01:45:45
you know we we did it for the love of
01:45:46
the game and and um chasing down that
01:45:49
ultimate goal and the um the joke TWW's
01:45:52
uh car wash that came about because you
01:45:54
guys both like this was a hobby outside
01:45:56
of golf you both love cleaning cars
01:45:57
which I found really odd yeah I when I
01:46:01
first met, you know, I I I love mowing
01:46:03
lawns and cleaning cars, which is, you
01:46:04
know, I guess that's a little strange. I
01:46:06
mean, it's two jobs that you do that
01:46:08
when you finished, you have a very good
01:46:10
self satisfaction when you've cleaned a
01:46:12
car. And I mean, I mean clean, I mean
01:46:14
detailing it and mowing the lawns to
01:46:16
perfection. And oddly enough, when I
01:46:17
first met Tiger, you know, here's a guy
01:46:19
that's, you know, wealthy beyond belief.
01:46:21
And he loves cleaning his car. So, you
01:46:23
know, we'd be cleaning his cars together
01:46:25
out uh at his place. And that's where
01:46:27
the joke of TWW's car wash. You know,
01:46:29
Steve, if it goes bad, TWW's car wash
01:46:31
and you're the man cleaning
01:46:32
cars. Um I I said on Instagram you were
01:46:35
coming and I asked if anyone's got any
01:46:36
questions. So there's a few random ones
01:46:38
here. Um someone wants to know um about
01:46:41
tall poppy syndrome. It's considered to
01:46:42
be like a Kiwi or an Australasian thing,
01:46:44
but um yeah, what are your thoughts
01:46:46
about tall poppy syndrome like
01:46:47
internationally? Is it is it a thing in
01:46:50
the States? No, it's a thing that's to
01:46:52
my knowledge is only in Australia and
01:46:55
New Zealand. Yeah, it doesn't exist
01:46:56
anywhere else.
01:46:58
Although, yeah, when Tiger had a scandal
01:47:00
like the Yeah, the med it seemed like
01:47:02
the media were trying to tear him down.
01:47:03
That in America, it's almost like they
01:47:05
want to tear you down but then try and
01:47:06
build you back up. I don't know if
01:47:07
that's tall poppy. That's just the
01:47:09
media. But no, tall poppy is something
01:47:11
uh that to my experience and to people
01:47:13
that I've talked about, it's just
01:47:14
something that's uh specifically evolved
01:47:17
in Australia, New Zealand. Yeah. Yeah.
01:47:20
We need to do better with that. E Oh, we
01:47:22
we absolutely that's something um Yeah.
01:47:24
I don't know how it how it all got
01:47:26
started and how we can change it, but
01:47:28
that'd be a long story for another day,
01:47:30
I guess. Part three. Uh, what's the
01:47:34
difference between confidence and
01:47:35
arrogance in professional sports? Well,
01:47:38
yeah. I mean, they go hand in hand
01:47:40
because somebody that's extremely
01:47:42
confident and and knows that they have
01:47:45
the ability to perform has some kind of
01:47:48
arrogance to them and that is somewhat
01:47:51
of an intimidation factor. So the the
01:47:53
arrogance and confidence comes together.
01:47:56
Um you know someone that's got an air of
01:47:59
confidence has to have a little bit of
01:48:00
arrogance as well. So they go hand in
01:48:02
hand. It's not something that someone
01:48:04
tries to be arrogant but to be
01:48:06
confidence and show some kind of
01:48:08
arrogance uh is is is definitely uh a
01:48:12
tribute to that person's ability to know
01:48:15
that they're going to perform.
01:48:17
Does Steve have any regrets or anything
01:48:19
he would do differently? Oh only only
01:48:21
one thing. Um, and that was at the um
01:48:26
199 I can't actually 1992 masters uh
01:48:30
with Ray Floyd. It's the only time in my
01:48:33
40 plus years of cadding that there's
01:48:36
something a thought that came to my
01:48:37
head. I didn't tell Raymond and
01:48:39
ultimately I believe I cost him winning
01:48:41
the Masters. He would have been the
01:48:43
oldest player to win a Masters, first
01:48:45
player at 50 to do so. And I I believe I
01:48:47
played a role in him. He lost in a
01:48:48
playoff to Felo. Uh, and I believe if I
01:48:51
had have said what I came into my head,
01:48:54
uh, I could have prevented that from
01:48:55
happening. That's my only regret. Oh,
01:48:57
did did I read about that somewhere?
01:48:58
Does he remind you of it? Um, you know,
01:49:00
when I used to stay with him, uh, he'd
01:49:03
say, "Steve, I could have had two of
01:49:04
these green jackets." I said, "Man,
01:49:06
they're really ugly. Why would you want
01:49:07
two of
01:49:09
them?" Um, if Steve could caddy for a
01:49:13
dream round, whose bag would he be hold
01:49:15
whose bag would he be holding and who
01:49:16
would make up the foresome? Uh my dream
01:49:19
round would be I'd be cing for Rory
01:49:21
Maroy and he would be playing with um
01:49:25
Adam Scott, Greg Norman, and Tiger
01:49:27
Woods. Why Rory?
01:49:30
Why not? He's just a an unbelievable
01:49:34
player, a guy that I love watching
01:49:36
playing golf. And um yeah, if if there
01:49:39
was a guy that I'd like to catch for, it
01:49:40
would be him.
01:49:42
Um what are your biggest flaws? My
01:49:45
biggest flaws? Um, biggest flaws is I
01:49:49
don't know how to relax. Uh, I I I'm not
01:49:51
a guy that ever sits down. I just keep
01:49:53
going, keep going, keep going. And and
01:49:55
and that drives my family around the
01:49:58
twist a little bit because a lot of
01:49:59
people like to sit down and relax and
01:50:01
that uh for me
01:50:04
um my when I go to heaven, that's when
01:50:06
I'm going to relax. So, I'm just I'm I'm
01:50:08
just always on to the next thing. Oh,
01:50:11
heaven. E that's optimistic. Um, there's
01:50:14
a uh I'm a bit like that. There's a term
01:50:17
for that, too. It's an active relaxer.
01:50:19
Just means you're always like your your
01:50:20
your version of relaxation is like doing
01:50:23
something like it's whether it's
01:50:24
detailing a car or 100%. I don't think
01:50:26
that's a bad thing either. You You're in
01:50:28
great shape. What are you now? 62. 62.
01:50:31
What do you do? What do you do? You
01:50:32
still work out? You you run? Um Yeah.
01:50:33
And I I I frequent the gym or we have a
01:50:36
gym at home, but I frequent the gym two
01:50:37
or three days a week. I like to row,
01:50:39
like to run, like to bike, uh and do a
01:50:42
lot of swimming. So yeah, I mean when
01:50:44
you get older, um it's, you know, you
01:50:46
like to keep yourself in some kind of
01:50:48
shape that that so that you can continue
01:50:50
to do the things that you love. You
01:50:51
know, I'm still trying to pursue
01:50:53
Speedway a little bit. I'm probably a
01:50:54
bit old in the tooth for that, but um if
01:50:56
I when I do race, you got to be in some
01:50:58
kind of shape. Oh, you're not too old.
01:51:00
Who's Who's the really old motor um
01:51:02
motor racing guy? Kenny Stewart. Is it
01:51:05
Kenny Stewart? Yeah. Yeah. He's What?
01:51:07
He's in his 80s. Yeah. Unbelievable.
01:51:09
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're you're a Sorry,
01:51:11
Kenny Smith. Sorry. Kenny Smith. Yeah.
01:51:13
Um, what are your future goals?
01:51:16
My future goals is to just um support my
01:51:20
family the best I can and and basically
01:51:23
um yeah, I don't really don't have any
01:51:26
more goals that I'm chasing. Uh just to
01:51:28
basically enjoy life now, sit back,
01:51:30
relax, um enjoy life, and yeah, make my
01:51:34
family happy. Speaking of your family,
01:51:37
three words that family or friends would
01:51:39
use to describe you. Driven. Um, I say
01:51:44
driven, motivated, and um, yeah, loving.
01:51:49
That's awesome. Are you proud of
01:51:51
yourself? Well, I don't know if you look
01:51:53
at that. I think, you know, you're happy
01:51:55
with what you've done. I don't know. I
01:51:57
don't like the word proud. Um, I'm just
01:52:00
h happy to have been uh been able to do
01:52:03
what I want to do. And I think that's
01:52:05
important in life that you should make
01:52:07
it a goal to do what you want to do. Not
01:52:10
what you what others make you do, but to
01:52:12
do what you want to do.
01:52:15
Well, it's all worked out all right for
01:52:16
you, has hasn't it? Like 50 year career
01:52:18
like I mean if you pursued rugby, you
01:52:21
wouldn't have had the longevity you
01:52:23
could say. Yeah. No, it might have had a
01:52:24
few injuries long way. No, look Dom.
01:52:26
Yeah. Like if you want to use the word
01:52:28
proud. Yeah. Extremely proud and uh you
01:52:31
know, happy to be able to sit here and
01:52:32
share my story with you. Yeah. I I'm so
01:52:35
appreciative that you reached out and uh
01:52:36
we got together for part two of the
01:52:38
podcast. Um hopefully this isn't this
01:52:40
isn't this isn't the end. Hopefully
01:52:42
there's a part three. Yeah. Yeah. No,
01:52:44
look, we're Evan and I who's done we've
01:52:45
done the book together. We're extremely
01:52:46
excited about the book. Comes out April
01:52:49
the 1st on in in the shelves of stores
01:52:51
and it's will be available online before
01:52:53
that. But we're we're extremely proud of
01:52:54
it and um yeah, I think it'll give
01:52:56
people a really good insight into my
01:52:58
time cing for Tiger. Steve Williams,
01:53:00
you're a great New Zealander. Thanks so
01:53:02
much for coming on the podcast again,
01:53:03
mate. Really appreciate it. Awesome,
01:53:04
Dom. Thank you. Cheers.
